


One Step Closer

by Mercy_Rhyne



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Fantasy ish au? I think?, I mean there's merfolk so that makes sense, Little Mermaid AU, M/M, TS Big Bang fic, There's a death but it's not really a major character and only mentioned briefly, Triton is a jerk but I mean that's a given, also medieval ish, much cute, very gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-28
Updated: 2018-08-28
Packaged: 2019-07-03 09:25:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 30,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15816093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mercy_Rhyne/pseuds/Mercy_Rhyne
Summary: In the depths of the ocean, hidden from all human eyes, live the merpeople. Underneath the surface, safe from prying eyes of men. That’s the way it’s always been. But one little merman can only think of the world above the surface, and a human prince in particular grasped his attention. He’d give up everything to be a human, to be with the prince. Even his voice.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Near drowning, Triton is an ass

There is a tale the sailors used to tell each other. To frighten each other, or to entertain themselves and others during their seemingly endless trips. They told their companions about Triton, king of the seas and the oceans. They talked about his wrath and dangers that lurked whenever you disrespected him or those related to him. But they also told each other about beautiful mermaids and -men, the most gorgeous people you had ever seen. And their voices… _God_ their voices were purely enchanting, and even that was an understatement.

No one truly seemed to believe it, but there was no one who openly voiced those thoughts, afraid of what would happen if they did. Superstitions ruled the seas, alongside Triton.

 

But no one knew of what happened below the surface of the deep, black waters. No one knew of the society that had formed, where merfolk and sea creatures lived alongside each other, under the rule of none other than King Triton, a father to six daughters and one son. The reason that no one above the surface knew of this large society, was the fact that all and any contact with the surface world was forbidden by the king. Those two societies were not to mingle. Nearly everyone obeyed this law, not wanting to anger the king of the seas. But not everyone.

Roman, the youngest of Triton’s kids and his only son, regularly visited the surface world, even if it was just for five seconds. There was something about this world that appealed to him. The soft wind brushing against his skin, playing with his hair. The fresh air, the sky, the clouds, the people. Everything was so gorgeous and so intriguing, Roman just had to see this. Every day, he dreamed about how it would be to walk there, on the beach, to live in a human house. All he wanted, was to get out of the sea and to live on the land, even if it was just for a day.

And then, there was _him_. A human on the surface. Roman didn’t know his name, but he knew that the man was royalty on the land. A prince. He often travelled the seas and Roman would often keep an eye on him, whenever he could. He would daydream of what their life together on the surface would be like. Anyone who would end up marrying the prince would be so lucky, Roman often thought. If only he could be that anyone. He would give anything to be that anyone.

 

The merman placed his arms on one of the rocks near the shore, concealing his bright red tail from anyone passing. He knew that the human prince would often wander the beach around this time of day – he wasn’t a stalker, honestly! He just happened to be in the right place at the right time a few times in a row, and he noticed the man walking around. It was all a coincidence.

Roman rested his head in his hands as he patiently waited. He knew it was weird, he knew it was wrong. But he also knew that there was no way his father would approve of him even trying to approach this _human_ , so this was his only option. He would never be able to come any closer than this. He would always have to admire this man from a distance, knowing that a relationship between them would never work out.

As if on cue, Roman noticed the man approaching. He moved ever so slightly, making sure no one on the beach could see him, while he saw everything.

“Hey,” he suddenly heard a whisper coming from below him, “what are we doing?”

“By Poseidon!” Roman exclaimed as he looked down, startled by the sudden presence near him. “Patton, don’t scare me like that!”

The merprince quickly glanced to the beach, to the see human prince frowning in his general direction. Roman took in a deep breath and hid himself behind the rocks, fully concealing himself.

“Hello?” the stranger asked. “Is anyone there?”

Roman didn’t respond and instead, looked at his friend with a slight glare as he waited for the man to lose interest. Patton waited too, frowning at the younger merman.

“What are you doing?” he asked softly, making sure his words could not be overheard by the man on the beach. “You know your father doesn’t want you, or anyone, to come up here.”

“I know,” Roman breathed, turning around to sneakily glance at the prince, who had lost his interest when no one responded to his question. “I know, but… have you _seen_ that man? And I know nothing will ever happen between us, but if he doesn’t see me… then what is the big deal? No one will have to know! I can be our little secret, okay?”

“Roman,” Patton said in a scolding manner, “you can’t keep doing this.”

“I know,” the merman nodded. It was just so unfair! He just wanted to talk to the man, to be near him, he didn’t want to have to hide to see him. “Just give me a little more time? I promise you I will come back then, okay?”

“Fine,” Patton sighed, looking around as if he was checking if anyone was near. Roman smiled thankfully and turned back to the human prince, who had sat down on the sand of the beach, looking out over the sea with a content smile. He would give anything to be sat next to the man right now. After a few moments, he reluctantly averted his gaze and looked at his friend next to him.

“Alright, let’s go,” the younger merman half-heartedly announced. He didn’t wait for a response, but immediately dove underwater again, waiting for the other to follow him. The young prince just wanted to get away from there as quickly as he could, before he would get tempted to go back to the surface again.

“Roman, wait up,” he heard Patton’s voice as the older merman rushed to catch up with his younger friend. The royal merman halted and waited until the other had finally approached before he continued swimming, at a slower pace this time. “Why are you in a rush all of a sudden?”

“You wanted me to get away from there, right?” Roman answered. “Well, I am away now.”

“I am just worried, Ro,” Patton explained with a soft sigh. “You know what your father thinks of the world of men.”

“And you know what I think of father’s ideas,” Roman retorted. It was clear that he did not want to continue this discussion, as it was not the first time this subject came up. He knew Patton meant well, but he just wished that the man could shut up about his father every once in a while. Roman loved his father, he really did, but he just didn’t agree with a lot of the things he said. Especially the things he said about the human world. Triton was wary of the humans and he seemed to believe that they were incapable of doing _anything_ good, while Roman thought the exact opposite. There was so much beauty in the world of humans, yet Triton was blind to everything. He seemed to think that humans were automatically evil, just because they lived on the land. He never gave them a chance. Roman never understood why, though. Shouldn’t everyone get a chance to prove themselves? Prejudices like these were harmful and Roman hated them. But there was nothing he could do to change his father’s mind.

 

After a while of swimming, Roman could see a small streak of dark blue approaching them and the prince sighed, preparing himself from a lecture from the merman that was currently swimming towards him and his friend.

“Where have you been?” Logan asked, quickly swimming up to the two mermen. “Your father was worried sick, Roman!”

“We were just swimming around,” Roman brushed off as he came to a halt in front of the other. “There’s nothing to worry about. I wasn’t even gone that long, father should learn that I can take care of myself by now.”

“Around?” Logan repeated, narrowing his eyes at the prince. “Where exactly is that?”

“Oh, you know,” the younger merman replied, trying to stall a little so he could come up with a good excuse, “the… old ship, the valley. That area.”

“I see,” the other merman nodded, turning to Patton, who hadn’t said anything yet. “Is that true, Patton?”

Roman followed Logan’s gaze to look at his friend. He knew just as well as the other that Patton was a terrible liar. Patton hated lying and he avoided it whenever he could.

“Well,” Patton started, looking at Logan, but avoiding his eyes. He chewed his lip as he fell silent for just a couple of seconds. “Yeah… that’s true.”

“You went to the surface again,” Logan stated, returning his eyes to the prince before him as he saw through Patton’s lies. “You know your father doesn’t want you there, Roman.”

“What? I didn’t go-” Roman’s protests were silenced by Logan’s death glare. It was apparent that the other could see right through the duo’s lies and trying to maintain this would not make matters better for them. So Roman just sighed and looked down. “Okay, fine, _I_ did. Patton didn’t do anything. But please, don’t tell father! It was just for a minute, and no one noticed me!”

“Well, except for-” Roman snapped his head up to glare as Patton, who realised his mistake at that exact same moment.

“Except for who?” Logan asked, staring at the two intently. His voice had grown colder. “Did somebody see you?”

“Not really,” Roman said with another quick glare towards Patton. “There… there was a man, who might have heard me. Patton startled me and I may have spoken a _little_ too loudly. But he didn’t _see_ me! He didn’t even know I was there! He just called if someone was there and then lost interest when I didn’t respond. Nothing happened! Please Logan, you can’t tell my father about this!”

Roman hated how he was practically begging Logan for this one favour, but he knew Triton would be anything but amused to hear his son ignored his orders. _Again_.

“I’m sorry, Roman,” Logan apologised as he made to leave, “you know I have to.”

“Logan, wait,” Roman called out as he followed the older merman in the direction of the palace. “I didn’t do anything up there, so basically, there’s nothing to say, right?”

“That man could have seen you,” the merman lectured without looking back or slowing down. “Do you know what could have happened if he discovered you? One of these days, your trip to the surface will turn out badly.”

“Spare me the lecture,” the royal mumbled, rolling his eyes, “but I was careful, trust me! He didn’t see me.”

“It’s not about what happened,” Logan told, “it’s about what _could_ have happened.”

“Well, that’s just a ridiculous standard,” Roman commented, struggling to keep up with Logan’s fast pace. “You can say that about anything. You could have died five seconds ago! A shark could have passed by and attacked you!”

“You know that is not what I mean.” Logan didn’t look back at Roman, he barely even acknowledged that the other was there. He was a good man, he really was, but he valued the king’s words so much. Roman knew that was understandable, but it was frustrating nonetheless. Roman didn’t respond and stopped trying to keep up with Logan, instead falling back a little so he could swim alongside Patton, who had followed the two as well. The trio stayed silent, until they reached the palace. It was a large structure, looming and slightly intimidating. In the correct lighting, however vague, it seemed to light up. It was gorgeous. It was Roman’s home, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. He loved it.

 

“Ah, Logan,” Triton greeted as soon as he entered the throne room, followed by Roman and Patton. “I see you have found my son, too.”

“I certainly have, Your Majesty,” Logan responded with a quick bow. Roman nodded at his father, but quickly lowered his gaze, knowing exactly what would happen in a few moments. He then proceeded to tell the king what he had learned during their brief exchange.

Even when looking at his fins, Roman could feel the glare on his father’s face. He could practically feel the atmosphere in the room growing colder.

“Roman.” The king’s voice was harsh but scarily calm at the same time. When he heard his name, the young merman slowly looked up to meet his father’s eyes. His brown eyes were cold and Roman just wanted to swim out of the room as quickly as he could. He knew that his father hated him going up and he knew he should listen to his parent, but he just loved the human world so much. He couldn’t just… leave it like that.

“Logan, Patton, leave us alone, please.” Triton’s voice was calm, but Roman knew it was just pretence. He knew that his father was fuming. Logan and Patton knew this too and quickly made their way out of the throne room. Patton shot his friend one final apologetic glance and Roman just responded with a sad smile.

“How many times do I have to tell you to stay away from the surface?” the king asked when the two other mermen had left. His voice was still icily calm and Roman hated it. “How many times do I have to tell you that men are dangerous? I don’t want you anywhere near the surface, Roman, you know that.”

“I’m sorry, father,” Roman murmured softly. He absolutely hated all of this so much, but he knew that it was his own fault for going to the surface when his father had explicitly told him not to – multiple times. But couldn’t his father understand how difficult it was for him to leave that place? Didn’t he understand that he loved that world above so much more than this underwater world? Was is that difficult?

“I wish I could believe that, Roman,” Triton responded, disappointment shining through in his voice, “but you have said that every single time, yet I see no intention of changing your behaviour. You apologize to me, but when you leave this room, you’ll have forgotten all about it. And in a few days, we will be back here, having this exact same conversation.”

“But I am sorry,” Roman repeated, “I truly am. But you don’t understand, it’s-”

“I don’t need to understand it,” the king interrupted. “I told you that I did not want you anywhere near the surface, and not only have you disobeyed me, again, you have also been extremely careless.”

“I was startled! I could not help it!” Roman protested, finally looking up to his father. “And besides, I hid when he approached, he didn’t see me, he didn’t know I was there, so what’s the problem? I am safe now.”

“You brought yourself in immediate danger,” Triton roared suddenly, making his son flinch back a little. “Do you have any idea what could have happened if he saw you?”

“Why does everyone keep saying that?” Roman grumbled in annoyance. “Nothing happened, he did not see me and I am fine.”

“You are now,” the king of the seas retorted. “But next time, you might not be so lucky. You cannot be this careless, Roman. I do not want to hear anyone telling me you went to the surface again, do you hear me? And if I hear about you going back up there, I will disown you.”

“Father, please!” Roman protested, looking at his father with wide eyes. “You cannot be serious!”

“You disobeyed my orders, Roman,” Triton reminded his son. “Not once. Not twice. I don’t even know how often I told you not to go up there. I have been easy on you, but this is the last time I will tolerate this behaviour. Do not let this happen again.”

“But father,” the prince resisted, trying to oppose his father’s decision.

“No buts,” Triton bellowed, shutting Roman up quickly. The young merman looked up at his father with wide eyes, but he decided to shut up, and instead nod and agree. There was no way he could change his fathers mind, after all.

“Alright, father,” Roman nodded, returning his gaze to his fins. “Was that all?”

King Triton answered with a confirmation, and without any further comment, Roman swam out of the throne room as quickly as he could.

 

When he left the structure, the prince was greeted by Patton, who looked at him worriedly.

“I am so sorry, Roman,” he rushed immediately, “it is my fault, I should have watched my words, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Roman dismissed, “it isn’t your fault, okay? I don’t blame you for it, I… I probably should have listened to my father. It’s just… too difficult.”

Patton nodded, but he didn’t reply. He just felt so guilty. If he had kept his mouth shut, Roman wouldn’t be in trouble now. It was all his fault and he hated the feeling of guilt that was eating him from the inside. But he knew that Roman hated it when he said that, especially when he had already said that he didn’t blame Patton. So, he just let it go and swam next to his friend, hoping to offer some kind of silent comfort. He tried asking some questions about what Triton had said, but Roman’s answers were brief and short. It was clear that he did not want to talk. So, after a while, Patton gave up and he decided to leave his friend alone, as he probably wanted.

 

As soon as he was alone, Roman made his way over to his secret hideaway. He really did want to be alone, but he was too afraid of sounding rude, so instead of just telling Patton this, he waited until the other would get the hint. It may not have been the best solution, but at least it worked.

His hideaway was a cave, far away from the castle. The entrance was hidden by darkness and small boulders. No one ever came there, it was perfect to hide in. And besides that, it was the perfect place to store something. And it just so happened that Roman was not only interested in the human world, but also in anything made by humans. Every once in a while, he would search shipwrecks for anything that might have survived, and these objects, he hid in his cave, where he could look at them and toy with them. He knew his father would never approve of this place, so he kept it hidden. The cave was quite dark, as it was nearly completely locked off from any light source, but a few cracks here and there let in a little bit of light, allowing Roman to look around anyways.

 

With a sigh, he laid down on the sandy floor of the cave, looking up at the rocky ceiling above him and wondering why he couldn’t have been born a human. If he had, he never would have to worry about his problem of wanting to go up to the surface. He never would have to wonder why his father wouldn’t allow him this one bit of happiness. It would make things so much easier for him.   

Why was it so bad to have an interest in humans? How could one not be interested in humanity? They crafted such amazing things and their way of life was just beyond comprehension. If only he could see and experience it for himself. That would be a dream come true. If only there was a way for him to experience the life of humans first-hand.

As Roman lay there, on the floor in his secret cave, Roman thought about his father and their conversation. Had Triton been serious when he threatened to disown Roman if he went back to the surface? One voice in his head told him that he couldn’t be serious, but another voice quickly countered that. It wasn’t so weird, after everything Roman had done. He had broken the rules more often than he would want to admit, even when the king had confronted him about this. Even though Roman did not want to say this, he could understand his father’s irritation. He just didn’t understand this stupid rule and his lack of understanding. If he was careful and cautious when going up, there shouldn’t be an issue right? If no one saw him up there, there was no reason for reprimanding, right?

 

A few days had passed and Roman, obeying his father’s wishes for once, had not gone up to the surface once. Admittedly, he had gotten really close to it at some points, but he decided against it at the last moment. It was the longest he had stayed under water for quite some time.

But on one faithful day, the prince saw a ship. Now, this was not unusual; humans went out on the water with a ship often. But this particular ship was extremely low in the water, and when the merman studied it for a while, he noticed it was sinking. He quickly approached and, without thinking twice, went up to the surface to see how the humans were doing. Immediately, Roman noticed what had caused the ship to sink. It was storming and rain came pouring down. The ship could easily have hit a rock, causing all the trouble. Luckily, most of the sailors managed to make it to the lifeboats, but there was one of them who was just a little too late. And that one person happened to be the human prince Roman knew.

 

He wasn’t an inexperienced swimmer, but the waves were working against him and driving him away from the lifeboat. He had to jump into the water to reach it, but no matter what he did, the tide pulled him away from his companions and he slowly watched them drifting away. It didn’t take long for him to succumb to the waves and with a deep breath, he disappeared below the surface.

 

Roman gasped and immediately followed his prince. There was no way he would let this man die, no matter what his father would have to say about this. Surely, he would understand that he had no other choice, right?

The merman grabbed the human prince and pulled him up, knowing that the first thing he needed, was air. When the two appeared above the waves, the human spluttering and coughing, Roman started to swim towards the shore. Even for him, it was difficult to make it to the beach. The waves seemed to be working against him as he struggled to rescue the man.

But finally, he made it to the shore. The rain had stopped and the sun shyly broke through the clouds, illuminating the beach as Roman reached it. The merman struggled as he pulled the human prince with him onto the sand, due to the lack of legs on his part, but he managed. Unaware of the brown eyes that carefully watched his movements from a hiding place near the rocks, the young prince tried to find out if the human was still alive. He had gone limp in Roman’s arms a little before that and the merman had feared for the worst, but when he took the time to check on the man, Roman found that he was still breathing. The sea-prince let out a relieved sigh as he looked at the unconscious man. Softly, he started singing an ancient song he had learned a while back, in the native tongue of merfolk. It was a song about having found true love. As cheesy as it might sound, that song was the only one Roman could think of as he looked at the man on the beach. True love.

When he had reached the third verse, Roman noticed that the human prince stirred and carefully opened his eyes, blinking a few times so his eyes could adapt to the light. The merman fell quiet and pushed himself away from the male, knowing that he could not be seen. His father would kill him if he heard of this!

As quickly as he could, Roman scooted back to the ocean, hearing the prince’s vague voice asking him to wait. He wanted to, he really wanted to obey and stay for a while, but he knew he could not do such a thing. He had already disobeyed his father’s orders by coming here, and if he left now, he might be able to justify his actions by saying that he had wanted to rescue the human. Surely, Triton could not disown him over that, right?


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil wakes up after being saved by a mystery person. Entranced by his saviour, he returns home. Logan has a internal conflict, and Roman makes a decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Deceit, disownment

When Virgil slowly regained consciousness, with his head hurting and his lungs burning, he heard a voice. It sounded like one that would belong to an angel, and it sang words he couldn’t quite make out. It was the most beautiful voice he had ever heard. The prince blinked, wanting to see who this voice belonged to, who had saved him.

In the light of the setting sun, he could vaguely see the silhouette of his saviour’s face, the sun behind them illuminating it like they carried a halo. He smiled and opened his mouth, wanting to ask the mystery person who they were. But, before he could make a single sound, they disappeared. Virgil pushed himself up, ignoring his headache as he tried to stop the person from leaving before he could thank them for saving him. When he had fallen into the water, he was certain that he would die, but here he was, still breathing. All thanks to this mysterious saviour.

“Wait!” Virgil’s voice was raspy and broke a little when he called out to the person. But when he sat up and when all the spots had left his vision, they were gone. The prince frowned as he looked around, wondering where they left. There was no sign of them and for a few moments, Virgil was afraid that he had imagined it. But the image was so vivid, their voice and their slight touch still imprinted in his mind. That could not have been something made up by his brains, could it?

 

Virgil rubbed his forehead and groaned softly, trying to comprehend what just happened. He carefully pushed himself up, his arms sore and heavy. When he finally stood on his own two legs, the prince found out his legs were wobbly and hardly capable of carrying his weight, and his vision blacked out for a little when he got up. The man slowly started his way to the castle, understanding he had to be careful not to push himself too far. He walked as much as his legs would let him, his head was pounding like crazy as he did, and all the time, he could only think of the stranger’s voice. Where had they gone when he tried to talk to them? How could they disappear so suddenly without a trace? And who were they? Maybe they were an actual angel, the prince told himself with a chuckle. Maybe that’s why they had sounded so angelic and why they could disappear in the blink of an eye. But surely, angels weren’t real, were they? There was no chance a real angel could have saved him… right?

 

The prince’s overthinking was soon interrupted by a female voice calling out to him, followed by loud footsteps.

“Virgil, there you are!” the familiar voice said. Virgil knew it, but somehow, he could not match a name or face to it, even though he knew he should be able to. “They thought you died!”

A pair of hands softly grabbed his shoulders as the female came into his field of vision. She had dark brown hair that fell on her shoulders and a worried look in her brown eyes. Virgil recognized the face, but it took him a few moments to register that it was his own sister.

“Val,” he breathed, suddenly overwhelmed by so many emotions. He never really acknowledged that he nearly _died_ out there, until Valerie had brought it up to him. He could have died if it wasn’t for the angel who saved him. Virgil stumbled forwards a little, feeling his legs giving in, but luckily Valerie was there to steady him again.

“What happened?” she asked softly, her voice calm and gentle. “The men told me you drowned. They tried to help you, but the current was too strong. How did you manage to swim against the current?”

“I… I didn’t,” Virgil mumbled, running a shaking hand through his wet hair. “Someone… _saved_ me.”

“Really?” his sister asked, looking around as she heard this. “Where are they then? And how did they manage? That must have been hard on them!”

“They… disappeared.”

“What?”

“They’re gone,” Virgil repeated. “Without a trace. I- I woke up and I saw them but… the next moment, they were gone. And they… they were singing something. I don’t know what, but it was so… so gorgeous, I-”

“Virge, you’re not making any sense,” Valerie said, placing a hand on her brother’s forehead. “Someone who disappears into thin air? That is not possible.”

“But it is,” the prince protested weakly, his voice cracking up. “I saw them! I- I heard them, I’m sure they’re real!”

“You might have been hallucinating,” the younger sibling reasoned. “I mean, you nearly died out there, I wouldn’t be surprised if you did.”

Despite his pounding headache, Virgil shook his head – a little too wildly, he discovered when another wave of pain attacked his head. This person was real, they _had_ to be. It had felt too real to be a hallucination. Sure, Virgil had never had a real hallucination before, but he had a feeling that this wasn’t one. Everything about this experience was so… real. The vague face he saw, their voice, the feeling of their skin lightly brushing against his own. It couldn’t have been fake, he was convinced of that.

Valerie wrapped her arm around her brother’s waist, leading him towards the castle as he tried to convince his sibling of his point, but she wouldn’t budge. She was sure that it could not be real, and while Virgil couldn’t blame her, it hurt that she did not trust his judgement. After a few moments, the prince grudgingly ceasing his protests as he let his sister lead him to the castle.

\---

Logan was the one who had noticed Roman had gone up to the surface and he had followed the young prince to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid. But when he had noticed how Roman tried to rescue the human, he got anxious. He knew about Triton’s demands and the king had told him to notify him if Roman ever went up again, but the merman could also see that all Roman wanted, was to save the human from the claws of death. Would it be just to tell the king of the sea about this? Logan was sure that the monarch would not go easy on his son just because he wanted to save a life. He was conflicted. And so, he went to the one merman he knew would be able to help him. Patton.

Just before Roman returned to the sea, Logan had left, searching the ocean for Patton, who he finally found in front of a small cave near the palace. He was playing with a few small fish who happily swam around him, hiding behind the rocks and coming out again, only to go back into hiding when he chased them. Logan almost didn’t want to disturb this scene, but he remembered the urgency of the situation and carefully scraped his throat.

“Patton,” he spoke slowly as the other merman stopped swimming. Three small fish turned to him, wondering why he had come here. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I need to talk to you about something. Can I… talk to you for a bit?”

“Of course,” Patton nodded. He turned to the fish and apologized, but he promised he would be back soon. The fish smiled and nodded in response as Patton swam up to Logan. “What is it, Lo?”

“It is about Roman,” the merman started, his hands behind his back. “I just saw him go back to the surface-”

“What? Again?”

“Well, yes,” Logan nodded, “but that isn’t really what I wanted to say. He wanted to rescue a human from drowning, that’s why he went up. And I am not sure what to do. The king wanted me to tell him if Roman went up to the surface and I know that I should tell him, but Roman just wanted to do good and I don’t want him to be punished for wanting to do good, even if that means disregarding my orders. I know I should be honest to the king but-”

“Well,” Patton started off, cutting of Logan’s rambling. “I hate to say this but… you _did_ have orders. And if the king finds out that Roman went up and you didn’t tell him, the both of you will be in trouble. Maybe the king will be easy on Roman if he hears of his reasons, right? He wanted to help someone, do you think the sea-king will understand?”

“I don’t know.” Logan pinched the bridge of his nose. “I really don’t. I hope he will but… I am not sure. He can be unpredictable at times.”

“That he can,” the younger merman agreed, allowing himself to sit down on the rocks nearby. “Well, I think that you should go to the king either way. I hate to say this as much as you do, but… I don’t want you to get in trouble. I mean- I don’t want Roman to get into trouble either but… well, I-… what if the sea-king finds out? If he hears Ro went up there, and that you knew… he won’t be amused. And to be fair, Ro _did_ disobey his orders. I mean- it’s up to you, really, but I just… I’m just saying.”

“I see,” Logan nodded, swimming in small circles as he thought about Patton’s words. He knew the other merman was right, but it felt so… wrong. He didn’t want to be the reason for Roman’s disownment, but he knew he couldn’t keep this a secret for long. It would be wrong. After a few moments of doubt and hesitation, he froze in place and turned to Patton. “I think I know what to do. Thank you, Patton. I’m sorry for bothering.”

“No problem, Logan!” Patton reassured the other with his usual smile. “You’re never bothering me, don’t fear!”

“Alright,” the older merman said with another nod, before he disappeared. “Thank you.”

 

Slowly, Roman entered the deep throne room. A few days had passed since Roman saved the human prince and for those few days, he hoped that his trip had gone unnoticed. But apparently, karma was not on his side, because after four days, he had been summoned again. His father didn’t come up to him, no this was an official summoning. Knowing the sea-king, this could only mean one thing; Triton knew about his son’s trip to the human world. There wasn’t any other logical explanation. The king _had_ to know. Why he had been called in this late, he didn’t know. But the prince decided to not ask about it. It didn’t matter.

The young prince didn’t look at his father as he swam into the room. He could feel the cold radiating off the sea-king, even without looking at him. Roman stopped in front of king Triton, his hands behind his back as he waited for the monarch to start talking.

“You went up to the surface again.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement. It wasn’t the shouting the prince had expected, but instead, it was calm, yet filled with contained anger. Roman took a few deep breaths and he nodded, afraid to meet his father’s eyes. “You saved a human.”

“He would have died,” the prince protested weakly, focussing on the movement of his fins. “I couldn’t just… let him die!”

“Well, you should have,” Triton stated. “You disregarded my orders, again. This is unacceptable, Roman! We have had this conversation one time too much!”

“Father, please!” Roman finally looked up, silently pleading his father to let it slide this time. “I couldn’t let him drown, you have to understand me!”

“Have I not been clear enough?” Triton’s voice was filled with anger, but there was something else to it. It sounded… tired. Like he was sick of having the same conversation over and over again, which was understandable, really. But Roman could not understand that his father wasn’t prepared to overlook it this one time. “You have ignored my order for the last time, Roman.”

“But-”

“Enough, Roman,” the king said, shutting up his son. “This is the last time you have disobeyed me. You are disowned!”

“Father-”

“You heard me, Roman,” Triton interrupted coldly. “Leave now.”

Roman looked at the monarch before him in shock and opened his mouth to utter a final protest, but changed his mind soon enough. He closed his mouth and turned around. As quickly as his tail would let him, Roman swam away from the palace, wanting to go anywhere to escape.

 

“Ro, wait!” a voice called out of nowhere. Roman sighed and turned around to face Dahlia, his eldest sister. Honestly, he didn’t want to see anyone at the moment. He just wanted to be alone. But he couldn’t ignore his sister. Dahlia and he were incredibly close, they talked to each other about everything. He knew she would want to hear about this. He just wasn’t sure he wanted to tell her about it. if he was being honest, he would prefer to just… sit inside his cave and think about how stupid he had been and about how upset he was with his father. That was all.

“I… I overheard a bit over your conversation with father,” the mermaid announced as she caught up with her brother. “I heard what happened. I’m sorry. Do you want me to talk with him?”

“No, it’s fine,” Roman said softly, not looking at his sister as he did. “It was my own fault after all, wasn’t it? I should have listened to him.”

“Are you sure?” Dahlia tried, swimming a little closer to her young brother. “I can try to convince him to give you one more chance? It’s not fair that you get punished for wanting to help someone, even if they were human.”

“It’s fine, D,” the prince repeated, finally meeting his sister’s eyes with a sad smile. “I should have known better. It was stupid of me to think that I could pull this off.”

With those words, the young merman turned around, feeling like this conversation was over by now. He didn’t want to talk. He just wanted to wallow in self-pity and think about what he was going to do now. But apparently, Dahlia thought differently. She sighed and followed her brother, grabbing his arm to stop him.

“It was not your fault, Roman,” she stressed, looking at him with a stern but soft look in her eyes. “You did what you thought was right.”

“You think so?”

“Of course, I do!” Dahlia said with a nod. “I would have done the same thing. I guess it’s just unlucky it was you who saw it, out of all merfolk.”

“I guess so,” Roman agreed with a bitter chuckle. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go, think about how to go through with my life now.”

“I’m really sorry this happened, Ro.”

“It’s my own fault,” the young merman reminded his sister, a little harsher than he had intended. “So don’t be.”

Dahlia sighed and carefully wrapped her arms around her little brother, holding him close.

“I love you, Ro,” she whispered, “and I’m going to be here for you, okay? If there is anything you need, just give me a yell.”

“Sure thing, D,” Roman nodded. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the comfort of his sister’s embrace for just a few seconds. It was so comfortable, so pleasant. All he wanted was to stay here. He didn’t want to have to face the world right now. He knew Logan and Patton would probably want to help him out, but the prospect of going out there and facing his responsibilities, it was so daunting and terrifying. Roman knew he had no choice but to face them after all; he could not avoid that. But if anything, he could put it off a little.

Unfortunately, Dahlia pulled away eventually. She smiled at Roman, who returned the smile weakly.

“I love you too,” he finally said. “I eh- I should go now, though.”

“Yeah, sure,” the mermaid responded with a nod. “I should probably… go back anyways, so…”

“I’ll see you later, I guess.” Roman smiled at his sister one last time before he turned around and swam off, this time unimpeded by anyone.

 

Roman had no idea where he would go. Anywhere. Maybe he could retreat to his cave, hide himself there. Or maybe he could ask Patton for help. Patton was so full of love and kindness, surely, he would accept. But when Roman thought of this, he nearly immediately dismissed the idea again. He didn’t want to ask Patton for help. It would feel _bad_. He didn’t want to burden his friend because he had been an idiot. This was his problem and his fuck up. Not Patton’s. Patton wouldn’t deserve this. Roman had made the stupid mistake, it was his fault. He should be the one to deal with this. No one else.

Then, a thought came up. It was a thought that he would usually never make. But now, he was upset, furious and he would do anything to get away from his father. He didn’t want to see Triton anymore. What was the point of staying here anyways? No, he couldn’t stay. He would go to Deceit.

Deceit was a witch, a powerful one at that. Everyone knew his name, and everyone knew he was dangerous. Not to be trusted. The people had nicknamed him ‘Deceit’ for a reason, after all. Triton and the sea-witch seemed to have a silent feud going on, but the king had always refused to answer the question his children asked him about it. However, Roman never doubted his father’s warnings. Not once had the thought to visit Deceit come up in his mind, but now… it was so tempting. Even if it was just to spite his father. At first, it was just a stupid idea he would never consider. A joke. But the longer he thought of it, the more tempting it grew. Deceit could help him. He was a powerful witch, surely, he would know a way to turn him human, right? It might not be a perfect plan, but it was a plan. He would do it.

 

“What is he doing?” Patton wondered as he saw a flash of red hurrying off into the distance. He was going deeper into the ocean, a place where hardly anything good happened. “Where is he going?”

Logan frowned as he looked at the spot of red. His brain was working at top speed to think of everything one could possibly want from that place. He went off into the distance, to the deeper and darker places of the seas. It wasn’t particularly crowded, only a few people lived there and the ones who did live there weren’t exactly the people you wanted to see, unless you really needed something. They were greedy and hardly trustworthy. You were truly desperate to make a deal with anyone there. But what would Roman possibly-

“Deceit,” Logan realised. He looked at his friend, who returned his shocked gaze. Deceit was a witch no one should want to do any business with. He was one of the worst out there, but he was also one of the most powerful ones.

“We need to stop him,” Patton said determinedly before making to followed Roman into the depths of the ocean.

 

Roman swam towards his goal, determined to meet with the witch to see if he had a solution to his problem. He knew that it was a bad idea and he knew his father and his friend would not like this, but it was his choice to make, no matter how stupid it was.

As he got closer to the cave where Deceit resided, it got darker and Roman was tempted to leave, but he did not want to abandon his dreams like this. He had to try.

Finally, the merman stopped in front of the cave, unaware of the fact that his two friends had silently followed him, trying to find out what he was going to do. For a few moments, Roman stopped to look at the intimidating cave, overthinking his actions, before taking a deep breath and going in. 

He swam deeper and deeper into the cave, looking around at the walls as his surroundings grew darker and darker. It was unsettling, but a perfect place for Deceit to hide.

“Hello?” Roman’s voice was soft and weak, but it seemed extremely loud in the quiet cave. The prince thought he heard something and looked behind him, only to be met with nothing. He took a few deep breaths to calm down his wildly beating heart as he proceeded. Just as he started to think it might have been a mistake to come here, he entered a large, round room in the cave. A tiny speck of light came in from the open top of the cave, allowing one to see part of the structure.

“Prince Roman,” a mocking voice said behind him, startling the prince as he quickly turned around. “What a _surprise_!”

Deceit emerged from the shadows, his long tail reminiscent of that of an eel. While the tail ended at his waist, the black scales continued upwards from his right side, up to his left collar bone. His left eye glowed an unsettling yellow, bright in the darkness of the cave. His appearance was intimidating, to say the least, but Roman took another deep breath and tried not to show that he was intimidated by the witch.

“To what do I owe this _pleasure_?” Deceit’s long tail curled around the room, finally coming up to stroke Roman’s cheek. The prince involuntarily shied away from this touch, but he continued to look at Deceit as he spoke, unaware of the two mermen watching the scene from above.

“I…” Roman took a breath before continuing. “I want to be a human. I want legs. Can you do that?”

“Can I?” Deceit questioned with an amused smirk. “Why of course I can! May I ask why? It is… _essential_ to know, I need the correct spell, after all.”

“There is this… guy,” the young merman said. He stared into Deceit’s eyes and they were so unsettling, so creepy. But it was as if he couldn’t look away, as if his eyes were glued to the other’s.

“And you love him,” Deceit filled in. Roman nodded and the witch hummed in reply. “Yeah, I can do that. Though I must say that my magic has a few conditions.”

“Conditions?” Roman frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You will have three days to make this man fall in love with you,” Deceit explained. “He needs to kiss you before the sun sets on the third day. A true kiss of love, mind you. None of this ‘I’m going to be the one to kiss him first and it will all be okay because we kissed’-cheating stuff. Of course, there will be consequences if you don’t succeed at this; you’ll turn back into a merman and you and your soul will essentially belong to me and spend the rest of your days here, locked away in the darkness of this cave, nothing big. Oh, and of course, I will need a payment.”

“I don’t have anything to give you,” Roman said, already making to leave, slightly disappointed. He had failed to register the severity of the consequences linked to this deal, and all that bothered him, was the mention of a payment. However, just as the merman was about to leave, he was stopped by Deceit’s tail grabbing his arm.

“That is fine,” he spoke slickly, “we can think of something.”

Roman nodded as he looked back at the witch. His grin was so scary, but Roman blamed that on his eyes and the eerie darkness in the cave. That would make anything look creepy, he thought.

“We just have to make a little deal,” the sea-witch mumbled as he conjured up a scroll, unaffected by the water. “You know, for payments, the usual.”

“What do I have to pay, then?” Roman asked. “I don’t really have anything that’s worth anything and I can’t ask anyone because-”

“How about your voice?”

“My _voice_?”

“That’s what I said, darling,” Deceit said, edging closer to the prince. “Don’t worry, you won’t need it anyways! You’ve got a pretty face and men on the surface rarely even talk. Surely, you will be able to win him over somehow. Who needs a voice, anyways? There are better ways to communicate.”

Roman frowned and absentmindedly touched his throat with his fingers. Was he really willing to give up his voice, just so he could be with the prince of his dreams? It was a big price but… would it be worth it? If he did succeed, he would be with his fantasy prince forever, he would be able to live on the land forever. Surely something that big was worth his voice?

“Fine,” Roman nodded finally. He was determined to make the deal. He would do anything to be a human. “Where do I sign?”

Vaguely, the prince heard a ruckus above him, but when he looked up, Roman saw nothing. He must have imagined it, he reasoned. Meanwhile, Deceit had conjured a pen and showed the young merman where he had to sign. Roman did as he was told and the scroll magically disappeared as soon as he had finished, the pen soon following.

“Perfect,” Deceit smirked, his tail still stroking Roman’s cheek. It was awfully uncomfortable, but the prince didn’t comment. “Now, first. I’m going to need you to sing.”

“To sing?” Roman asked in surprise. “What do I sing?”

“Anything,” the sea-witch replied, getting a small jar from a cabinet nearby. “It is merely to receive my payment. You just sing whatever you want, dear.”

Roman nodded and sang the first song that came to his head; a song he had heard the human prince sing a while back. He had only heard it a few times, but it stuck with him and he loved it. His voice was unsure and shaky, mirroring Roman’s own feelings. He had a bad feeling about this, but it was too late to turn back now. He had made his decision and he had to go through with it, no matter what. As he sang, Roman heard Deceit mumbling some words in a foreign language, closing his eyes as his hands clutched the jar. The merman kept singing and singing, until he felt a weird sensation in his throat. As if he was being choked, as if something was forced down his throat.

“Don’t stop,” Deceit ordered. “Keep singing!”

Roman nodded and complied, singing and singing until the uncomfortable sensation disappeared. After that, the prince still moved his mouth, but he heard no sound coming from his mouth. Instinctively, his hand shot up to touch his throat in shock, until he realised what happened. A weird kind of fog appeared in the glass jar in the witch’s hands and Roman stared at it in shock. Was that his voice?

“Perfect,” Deceit hissed with a content smile. He closed the jar and placed it back in the cabinet. He then turned his attention to Roman and, without any announcement, started uttering another spell. Roman closed his eyes as the spell hit him, filling his lower body with excruciating pain. It was a good thing Deceit had taken his voice away beforehand, as he certainly would have screamed if he had a voice. Roman felt like his tail was slowly being torn apart, and with every passing second, the water he was so comfortable in, grew less comfortable. It stung in his eyes and he couldn’t breathe anymore. When the pain stopped, he tried his best to swim upwards, but he felt like he couldn’t move. His newly created legs were weak and hardly did anything. Roman panicked as he ran out of breath and he hardly registered it when two pairs of hands grabbed his arms and pulled him up.

 

Logan and Patton had watched the entire scene from above. When Roman made to sign the contract, Patton had wanted to swim down there and stop his friend from making a giant mistake, but he was stopped by a tail wrapping around his own and pulling him back. He turned his head to look at whoever stopped him and was met by the uncaring face of a moray eel, holding him back with surprisingly much force. Another eel was holding Logan back as well, though the other was trying his best to set himself free from the fish’s grip. Patton growled and did the same, trying his best to reach his friend. Roman was about to make what could be the worst mistake of his life and someone had to talk some sense into him. As it was clear that Deceit would do no such thing, Patton had to be the one to do so. But the eel’s grip on his tail was surprisingly tight and no matter what, he could not pull himself free. Deep down, in the depths of the cave, the two mermen listened as Roman’s voice died away and the simultaneously stopped their struggling, knowing the deal had been made and there was nothing they could do. The silence that followed was broken by Deceit uttering a spell and finally, the eels released the two mermen wrong their iron grip and silently slipped into hiding again. When they looked down again, they saw Roman trashing around in pain when Deceit split his tail into two legs and waited for him to come up. But it was soon clear that this would not happen and Patton rushed down, to grab one of Roman’s arms to help him swim up before he suffocated. Logan rolled his eyes and followed Patton into the cave, ignoring Deceit as they saved their friend.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day one. Roman makes it to the surface world and he finally meets the prince of his dreams.

When Logan and Patton managed to pull Roman onto land, the youngest of the three came up, coughing. The salt water burned his throat and eyes in a way it never had before. It was weird. It was new, and he wasn’t sure he liked it.

The two mermen helped the newly created man onto the beach. When he stepped onto the beach, holding on to the rocks near the coast, he immediately noticed the fact that he wasn't dressed. At all. Roman quickly fell down – both because of his legs giving in and his want to cover up a little – and Patton gasped. 

"I'll be right back! You're going to need something to wear." And with those words, he disappeared. Roman just looked down at his new feet with a serene smile. He couldn't believe this! He was actually a human now! He had legs!

"That was a really stupid thing you did there," Logan stated sternly as he rested his arms on the rocks next to Roman, making sure he was hidden from sight. Roman rolled his eyes, expecting a new lecture. "You can roll your eyes at me, but you know it's true! You shouldn't be so impulsive, Ro."

Roman shrugged, not taking his eyes off his feet. He knew he was being childish here, but he just wanted to enjoy his legs and learn how to walk, he didn’t need another lecture.

"How are we going to explain this to your father? He's going to be all kinds of angry and upset when he hears of this."

Roman looked up with wide eyes and shook his head. He didn't want his father to find out! He would certainly do anything in his power to get his son back into the sea and he would never be allowed to leave their castle again. He didn't want that to happen! Not when he was this close to the man of his dreams!

"Roman, he deserves to know," Logan tried, but the former merman continued to shake his head, giving Logan his best puppy eyes in an attempt to convince him. Eventually, Logan gave up with a sigh. He knew he would have a hard time lying to Triton, but he also knew that he would never forgive himself if he took away Roman's chance at happiness, even if it had been an extremely dumb and impulsive decision. When he gave in, Roman jumped back into the water to embrace Logan, only to discover his mistake when he nearly disappeared underneath the surface of the water again. He really had to get used to swimming with legs.

Luckily, Logan helped him back onto the land and not long after, Patton resurfaced with a piece of fabric torn from the recently sunken ship.

"Here," he said, handing it to Roman. "It's not ideal, but it's something."

Roman nodded an acceptance and wrapped the cloth around his waist like one would with a towel. After a few moments of silence, he grabbed the rocks again and pulled himself up, determined to remain on his feet for a little longer than the previous attempt.

It took him a few tries, but finally, Roman managed to stay on his feet, holding on to the rocks. He grinned victoriously and looked down at his two friends with a grin. It was then that he realised that, if he did manage to sway the prince, he would never see his friends again. His sisters and his father. He would never see them again. If he managed to win the prince’s heart… he would never return to the sea again. And if he didn’t succeed – he didn’t want to think about it.

Carefully, Roman walked towards the sandy beach, still clutching the rocks. When he placed his foot on the sand, he pulled back in surprise. The sand tickled his feet and it was an unexpected sensation. His lips curled upwards in a silent laugh and he then tried again. The sand still tickled, but he expected it this time and he managed to stand on his two feet without pulling back.

“Ro, what are you going to do now?” Patton asked, leaning on the rocks in front of him, hiding his tail below the water. “How are you going to make this prince fall in love with you?”

Roman shrugged and just pointed towards the palace in the distance. He didn’t really have a plan. All he thought, was that he had to get to the palace somehow and meet the prince. He would have to see what would happen after that. Suddenly, he heard footsteps on the other side of the beach. Logan and Patton heard this too and after exchanging one look, they knew they had to leave.

“Kiddo, we need to go now,” Patton said quickly, “good luck with your prince. We will try to contact you if we can, okay?”

Roman nodded, quickly looking in the direction of the footsteps to see the prince he was so infatuated with. His eyes hadn’t yet noticed the man on the beach, dressed in a sail. Logan said his goodbyes as well and Roman waved at the two as they disappeared. He then carefully released the rock he still clutched with one hand and tried to take a few steps in the direction of the human prince. He managed to take two full steps, but he quickly stumbled and fell in the shallow water. This was going to take a while, he realised as he pushed himself up.

 

Virgil heard a splashing sound, coming from behind the rocks and he frowned as he made his way closer to the source of the sounds.

“Hello?” he asked carefully. “Is anyone there?”

As he spoke, he noticed a hand coming up, soon followed by another hand and finally, a face. The man behind the rocks smiled at him as he pulled himself up and slowly tried to approach the other. When Virgil saw the stranger on the beach, he froze. For a few moments, he thought that it might be his angel, his saviour. This man, wrapped in a sail look exactly like the one who had saved him not much before that. With a rapidly beating heart, he walked up to the stranger, who sheepishly smiled at him.

"Excuse me," Virgil started, sitting down next to the man, "can I help you?"

The man nodded, but didn't speak. He looked down, frowning slightly, as if he was thinking about something.

"You... you do speak English?" Virgil asked slowly, hoping that it was the case. Unfortunately for him, language had never been his strong point. Real handy for a prince. The stranger nodded, to Virgil's relief, but proceeded to tap his throat.

"You... don't speak?" His heart sank. So, it wasn't his angel, then. Virgil couldn't say he wasn't a little disappointed. He had hoped to meet the one who rescued him, the one whose voice had been stuck in his mind since he heard it. And he had been so excited when he saw this man, who looked so much like his angel. But apparently, today was not that day.

"Do you sign?" Virgil asked, thinking of a way to communicate. The stranger shook his head. "Writing then, would that work?"

The man shrugged with an apologetic smile and Virgil just nodded. This wasn’t exactly helpful for him.

"Shall I take you to the palace? You look like you could need some help," the man nodded enthusiastically as Virgil got up. He wondered how this man ended up here. He reasoned the sea brought him here, as he was soaking wet and there was no other access to this place, but... how? As far as he knew, nothing had happened in the past few days.

The prince extended a hand to the stranger, who gratefully took it and grabbed onto the fabric around his waist as he was pulled up. Virgil made his way to the palace, the other man following him. He stumbled every few steps, nearly falling over. But when Virgil asked him if he needed any form of support or help, he refused.

As they walked, Virgil couldn’t help but wonder who this man was. Where did he come from? Who was he? What had happened to him? There were so many questions, but as the man didn’t seem to speak, Virgil wasn’t sure he would ever find the answers to these questions. Unless they found a different way to communicate, he wasn’t sure if they could even find a way to help him. Of course, they would do everything they could. They couldn’t just leave this man out here, without a place to go, without any clothes or food. But if they didn’t know what problems they would have to solve in order to help, it would become pretty difficult.

 

“Thomas,” the prince called as soon as he entered the palace. Not much later, a man walked up to the two, glancing at the new man before he turned to the prince. The man – Thomas, apparently – seemed not much older than thirty years old. “Could you tell the staff to prepare a bath for him? And see if we have got any spare clothes.”

“Of course, Your Highness,” Thomas nodded. He didn’t wait for a response, but promptly left the room. The prince brought Roman to a large room not far away from the hallway they were just in. It was a gorgeous room, with brown wood on the floor – real wood, not old and decayed by the water – and red wallpaper. In the middle stood a long table with chairs around it, and above it was a gorgeous chandelier. The human prince brought his guest over to the table and sat him down on one of the chairs.

“So,” human prince started as he grabbed a piece of paper he saw on a desk near the table. He picked up a pen as well and walked over to Roman. “I am not sure if you can write, but… can you try? Writing down your name, maybe? Anything that would allow us to help you?”

Roman took the pen and looked down at the piece of paper. Sure, he could write. But he was pretty sure the runes the merfolk used to communicate were different from whatever the humans on the surface world used. Nevertheless, he put the pan onto the paper and wrote down his name in five, elegant and curvy runes. He then turned the paper around and looked at the human, awaiting his reaction.

“Well… this is another alphabet than we use,” he announced. Roman nodded, having expected this response. He had seen something of the writings of humans, bits and pieces on wood or old paper, but it wasn’t enough to make an accurate comparison. This news still didn’t surprise him, though. It would be odd if a civilisation that had lived underneath the water surface for centuries had developed the same way of writing as the civilisation about the surface.

“Wait,” the prince said, coming up with an idea as he spoke. “Here’s an idea. How many letters does your name have?”

Roman held up five fingers.

“Five, alright,” the man nodded. “I can’t believe I’m going to do this. Does your name start with an ‘a’?”

Roman shook his head and the human prince continued mentioned all the letters in the alphabet until he reached the ‘r’, to which Roman nodded.

“Great,” the male said. He knew this plan wasn’t his best one, but he had no other ideas, so this would have to do. “Okay, letter two.”

They continued until they had spelled out ‘Roma-’. The entire time, Virgil was trying to come up with a name for his mystery guest, but with one letter to go, there wasn’t a lot of room to stray anymore.

“Roman?” the prince guessed. Roman nodded with a smile. It sounded so great to hear the man of his dreams pronouncing his name. It was beautiful and he loved his name even more in that moment. “I love your name, Roman. I haven’t even introduced myself, excuse my manners. My name is Virgil.”

Virgil. It was a gorgeous name, for a gorgeous man. Roman smiled and opened his mouth to repeat the name, wanted to hear what it sounded like from his mouth, and what it felt like. But when he tried this, the man remembered that his voice had been taken away by the sea-witch and he frowned. Virgil smiled at his face, not knowing the full story behind it. 

 

Not long after that, Thomas came in to tell him that the bath had been prepared for their guest and Virgil nodded, getting up to show Roman to their bathroom. It was a large room with a larger bath than might have been necessary. A simple shirt and trousers were folded and placed not far from the bath, next to two white towels. Roman had no idea what any of it meant, but he loved everything he saw. It was so different from what he was used to, so rich and so… _human-y_. It was better than he was used to. Virgil smiled as he saw his guest’s excited reaction to his bathroom and told him to take as long as he needed. Roman nodded and smiled as Virgil left. He then locked the door and turned around, facing the bath that must have been big enough to fit him at least twice. It was filled with water and weird bubbles that appeared to have many different colours in the light of the candles. Roman carefully dropped the sail and stepped into the bath. The water was so much warmer than the water of the ocean. It was weird, but if felt… good. It was a pleasant sensation. The bubbles stuck to his skin, tickling a little Roman smiled at this as he played with the bubbles. They smelled delicious. Fresh and sweet, but Roman couldn’t exactly place the scent.

He had no idea how long he sat there, but his fingers were starting to wrinkle when he finally made the decision to get out. Carefully, Roman got out of the bath, making sure not to slip and fall. He picked up one of the two towels, knowing exactly how to use this. He had seen people on the beach with things that looked exactly like these, only a little bigger. They would pick a spot on the beach and lay down on top of the fabric. And if they come out of the water, they would wrap these things around them and dry themselves off. As there was no place for him to lay down, Roman reasoned he would have to dry himself off with the… thing. He did the best he could – still pretty clumsily – before getting dressed. It took him a bit to figure out how these clothes worked, but eventually, he managed to put them on properly.

 

When he was done and fully dressed, Roman carefully opened the door, wondering where on earth he was supposed to go next. He had to admit that, while the shirt was something he could get used to, the pants were extremely uncomfortable. He just didn’t like the way the fabric clung to his legs, it felt… wrong. But if it was something he had to do to be fully human… well, he didn’t really have a choice, did he?

As soon as Roman stepped out of the bathroom, a young woman approached, the man estimated she was just a few years younger than he was. She wore a gorgeous, blue dress, decorated with black lace that Roman absolutely _loved_. It looked amazing on her.

“Hey, you’re Roman, right?” she asked with a kind smile. Roman nodded, looking up at her. “I’m Valerie. Virgil’s sister. He told me I had to take you to the dining room as soon as you were ready. So… are you ready for dinner?”

Roman looked at Valerie for a few moments, mulling over her words. Dinner did sound good to him, and he had to get acquainted with human food eventually, so he couldn’t refuse this offer. With a big smile, Roman nodded again. Valerie smiled in response and told the man to follow her to the dining room.

 

They walked through the large, beautifully decorated hallways. Roman still wasn’t used to this. It was all so beautiful and interesting, and the floors were more slippery than the outside had been and he nearly fell over a few times, still having to get used to his human legs. Valerie just chuckled at his antics and helped him up every time he fell over, not even questioning it.

After going through what felt like a thousand identical hallways, the two finally reached the dining hall; a large room with a table that was way too big for the four people who would be dining there. A beautiful chandelier hung from the ceiling, illuminating the large room. The large windows provided an amazing view of the surroundings, one of them even looking out on the ocean. As soon as the two entered the room, Roman noticed the body of water in the distance. He smiled wistfully as he looked outside. His father and friends would be out there, living their lives like usual. He wondered if they knew where he went, if they were looking for him, if they even missed him.

“Roman?” A male voice pulled Roman away from his thoughts. He whipped his head around, facing Virgil with a sheepish smile. “Are you okay?”

Roman nodded quickly, reassuring the prince with a smile he hoped was convincing enough. If only he had a voice to tell the man a lie to reassure him. But he couldn’t even do that. Virgil slowly nodded in response, not sure if he had to trust the other man, but he decided not to pry. There wasn’t anything Roman could say anyways, so it wasn’t like he could answer the question anyways. Instead, he just led his guest to the dining table, assigning him his seat across from where Virgil himself would sit. Valerie sat down next to Roman, the one named Thomas sitting opposite her.

The four of them enjoyed a three-course meal, with all kind of foods Roman didn’t know the names to, but that tasted great. So far, the former merman had no regrets in making the deal with Deceit. He only had to win Virgil for himself, and he would be fine.

 

After dinner, Virgil quickly announced he would be going out for a walk, and he asked Roman to accompany him.

“Going to look for your angel again, Virge?” Valerie asked, with a teasing smile.

“What if I am?” the prince retorted. Roman frowned at the two siblings, wondering who this ‘angel’ was.

“Nothing,” the girl responded with a shrug. “I’m just saying they’re probably a hallucination. A mix of your memories. I can’t blame you. You nearly _died_ out there. Your brain was probably trying to explain how you survived. You shouldn’t get so hung up on this angel.”

“I know they were real, Val,” Virgil said confidently. “I don’t know why, I just… do. They’re out there.”

“If you say so.” With those words, Valerie turned around to leave the dining room, but just in front of the door, she stopped and turned around. “I’m just looking out for you, Virge.”

“I know,” Virgil nodded, looking away. “But I can take care of myself.”

“You say that all the time,” the princess said, “but somehow… I’m not sure I believe you.”

With those words, she turned around and left the room. Roman couldn’t stop looking at the dress trailing behind her. It was so gorgeous and the way the fabric moved when Valerie did was just so… _enchanting._ There were no words to describe it.

“What do you say, Roman?” Virgil asked softly, seemingly unsure of whether this was a smart decision or not. “Will you accompany me to the beach?”

Without hesitation, the other man nodded. Of course, he wanted to go with Virgil to the beach. He would do anything to be with his prince – and besides, this could be his chance to win the prince over, if he was lucky enough.

Virgil smiled at his guest’s eagerness to come along on his daily walk and he grabbed Roman’s hand, ready to take him outside. Roman flinched a bit at the unexpected – but not unpleasant – contact. Virgil noticed and immediately let go of the other’s hand.

“I- I’m sorry,” he stammered. “I… should have asked, apologies.”

Roman pouted a little and shook his head, hoping this would convey the message he wanted it to; that he did not mind. Shyly, he reached out and took Virgil’s hand in his again, looking up at the prince to see how he would react to this gesture. Like he had hoped, the other man looked at him with a fond smile, but he quickly looked away, masking this with a cough before looking at the door.

“I… think we should go, though,” he said quickly, “before the… weather changes.”

The former merman nodded and let the human prince lead him outside. They followed the exact same path they had taken when they went to the castle, earlier that day. Virgil led Roman to a few rocks on the beach, forming a perfect bench for the two of them. He sat down and gestured for the other to the same. Roman quickly complied, looking out over the waters in the distance.

“You know…” Virgil started after a short silence, interrupted only by the sound of the waves crashing on the beach. “A few days ago, I was in a ship wreck. I nearly died, but… someone saved me. I don’t know who it was; they disappeared before I could ask them. They just… vanished without a trace. All I know is that they have the most amazing voice I ever heard, and I saw a bit of their face, but the sun obscured most of it. And I… I know it sounds stupid, but I _need_ to find them. Even if it is just to thank them for saving me. I need to know who did it. They saved my life and I… Val and Thomas don’t seem to understand. They don’t believe they are real. But I _know_ they are out there. So I come here, every evening, hoping they somehow show up.” – he chuckled softly – “Pretty pathetic, huh? I need to find a partner to marry, to rule the country with. Yet all I can think of is some mysterious angel who rescued me.”

Roman’s heart skipped a few beats when he realised that Virgil was talking about him! He wasn’t sure if he had to be happy because his prince remembered him, or upset because there was no way he could tell him. He just shook his head, looking at Virgil. If only he could write a message to him, tell him that he was the one who rescued him that night. But how could he do that? How could he make this clear, while also trying to sound believable? There was no way Virgil would believe him, right?

“You don’t think so?” Virgil asked, frowning at the other in disbelief. “You don’t think I’m wasting my time, chasing a dream, a… a hopeless wish?”

Again, Roman shook his head and his heart broke a little as he realised that all those things Virgil mentioned must have been things that had been said to him before. If only he could tell the human prince that _he_ was the one who had saved him. It hurt him to know that the man of his dreams was looking for him. It hurt to know that he would never find the one he was looking for, because he was sitting next to him, voiceless and unable to tell him this.

“I have got to say, that surprises me,” the prince confessed with a soft laugh. “I didn’t know anyone would believe me.”

Roman moved a little closer to the prince, hoping that this gesture would convey the message he wanted to voice, the words he wanted to pronounce but couldn’t. He really wanted to hug the man next to him, but he wasn’t sure this would be appropriate. They barely knew each other, after all.

Virgil looked at the man next to him and smiled, making Roman’s heart beat faster and faster. He was so gorgeous, and his _smile_ was just… breath-taking. There were no words to describe this. Nothing would do justice.

“Thanks, Roman.” Virgil’s voice was barely audible over the sound of the waves in the background. “I… appreciate it. I’m glad at least someone believes me.”    

Roman turned to the man with a simple nod. After that, Virgil didn’t speak for a while. He just looked out, over the seas, waiting for a call he would never hear.

After a while, Virgil looked at the man next to him, seemingly awakening from a trance. Neither of them knew how long they had been there, but it had grown darker and colder, and Roman was dying to get some heat. Virgil seemed to notice – either that, or he had the same longing – as he suggested they head back to the castle. The other man nodded and they silently walked back. Multiple times, Virgil turned to the other, seemingly wanting to say something, but he would then shake his head and dismiss the thought. And so, it went on for a while.

 

When they got back to the castle, Roman noticed a few maids walking through the hallway, talking about something that had passed that day. He noticed their dresses and he just couldn’t take his eyes off of them. They were so gorgeous and they looked so much more comfortable than what he was currently wearing.

“You like their dresses?” Virgil asked, noticing Roman’s gaze. The other man looked at the prince and nodded, a smile gracing his features. “I see. Would you want me to see if we have a dress that could fit you?”

Roman’s eyes lit up at the offer and he nodded enthusiastically. He loved the way the dresses looked, how the skirts flowed when walking. Everything about them was just incredible. Virgil softly chuckled at the other’s enthusiasm and nodded. Right on cue, he saw Thomas passing through the hallways.

“Thomas!” he called out, walking up to the older man. “Could you please try to find out if we own a dress that might fit Roman?”

“A dress, Your Highness?” Thomas asked with a slight frown, though he tried not to show this.

“Yes,” Virgil responded. “Is something wrong with that?”

“Of course not, Your Highness, I just… wanted to be sure,” the prince’s confidant said quickly. “I will look into it immediately.”

“Thank you.” Virgil smiled as Thomas made a quick bow before walking away again. The prince turned to his companion with a warm smile. Roman returned this smile, silently thanking the other for his effort.

“Do you want me to show you your bedroom?” the prince asked. “It is getting late, after all, and I figured you might want to… get some rest. And eh- if you want I could… take you out to the city tomorrow? Show you around a little?”

Again, Roman nodded with a wide grin. He would take any opportunity to spend time with his prince, and seeing human culture would be an amazing advantage to this as well. Oh, he couldn’t wait to see the city! He had never seen a real human city before, and he was so excited to learn more about their culture! From the snippets of conversations Roman had caught during his trips to the surface world, he learned that human culture differed from merfolk’s in a lot of ways. He never really understood what he heard, but he understood it was very different from what he was used to – this was probably due to his lack of understanding. The prospect of learning more about this world he loved so much, excited him so, so, _so_ much.

Virgil carefully smiled at his guest’s enthusiasm and Roman felt his heartbeat accelerating again. The human prince was so sweet and so pretty and so adorable and Roman didn’t understand how anyone could be so gorgeous as him. He was just so… amazing. And Roman adored how Virgil was so shy and awkward, even though he was a prince. He was just so… God, he was amazing.

The two men walked through the hallways on their way to Roman’s room – they all looked the same to Roman, but he tried to remember where they went, hoping he’d be able to find his way back the next day. Honestly, he doubted that. He’d never been good at finding his way. Not a good characteristic for someone who lived in the depths of the ocean, where everything looked similar and getting lost was relatively easy. Roman had gotten the hang of it over time, though. But it just was very, _very_ difficult.

“Here is your room,” Virgil announced when he stopped in front of a dark, wooden door. Roman looked at the other man and waited as he opened the door. Virgil was the first to step inside, the former merman following him quickly.

They were stood in a large room, with three dark blue walls, the other being a white that contrasted with the dark wood. Against the back wall, Roman saw a bed large enough to fit at least two people, buried in pillows with multiple colours and prints. Furthermore, there was a cabinet, a few nightstands, a small couch. Everything you could need was there. If Roman wanted to, he could spend his next few days holed up in his room. He didn’t want to of course, but it was always a possibility.

As Roman looked around, Virgil made his way to a dresser that had been shoved against the bed, rummaging through the drawers. Finally, he found what he was looking for; a long shirt and loose pants. He got the clothing out and handed them to Roman, telling him that he could wear that for the night. The young man nodded as a silent thank you. He sat down on the couch, placing the clothing beside him. Then, he turned to Virgil and patted the seat on the other side of him, hoping Virgil would get the hint and sit down next to him for a while. Even if they weren’t able to talk as much as Roman actually wanted to, he still enjoyed Virgil’s company, and to be fair, he didn’t want to be alone. Actually, he just didn’t want Virgil to leave. He wanted the other man to sit down next to him, to hug and cuddle him until he fell asleep. He knew it was weird, as they officially knew each other for just a few hours, but he couldn’t stop himself from thinking about it. No matter what, he just… loved Virgil so much, even after this short period of time. Was that weird?

Roman’s heart skipped a few beats when Virgil chuckled and nodded, making his way to the couch. He sat down next to Roman, smiling at the other with that stunning smile of his. So many words and thoughts raced through Roman’s head. Words and thoughts that he could not share with his prince. It was frustrating, but… Deceit had said that men don’t talk a lot here, right? So… did that mean it was for the best? Was it saving him from an embarrassment?

Virgil carefully grabbed Roman’s hand and the latter looked down at their intertwined hands, a smile growing on his face.

“This is okay, right?” Virgil asked quickly, taking Roman’s glance for shock or aversion. “I’m sorry, I thought… we did it earlier, so I thought you would be okay. I’m sorry if you don’t want me too.”

Roman gently placed his other hand on top of Virgil’s, trying to reassure the other that he was fine with the gesture. Virgil nodded with a smile as he looked into Roman’s eyes. For a moment, the world seemed to stop spinning as their eyes met each other. In that moment, Roman really, _really_ wanted to kiss the man. He would never do it. Not now, at least. They hardly knew each other, and Roman wasn’t even sure Virgil wanted the same. And as he couldn’t ask the other for consent, he reckoned it would be best to just let the prince initiate the movement.

“Alright,” Virgil smiled at Roman. “I’m sorry, I just… get nervous about this. I don’t know why, it’s just… how it works, I guess.”

Roman nodded, completely understanding the sentiment. He understood Virgil’s nerves, as he felt them himself. There was so much he wanted to do, but he was afraid that the man would push him away.

The two of them locked eyes for a moment and Roman was sure he felt a spark between the two of them. In that one moment, Roman made a decision. He scooted over, a little closer to the human prince, so their shoulders were now touching. Roman had never really been this close to anyone and usually, the proximity would make him uncomfortable, but with Virgil… he didn’t mind. He actually enjoyed this. It was as if the two were meant for each other, like two pieces of a puzzle – no matter how cliché that sounded, Roman actually believed this. There was no other place he would rather be. He just wanted to be with Virgil.

 

Carefully, Virgil released Roman’s hand from his grip and wrapped his arm around the other man’s shoulders, pulling him just a little closer, if that was even possible. With a content sigh, Roman lightly rested his head on Virgil’s shoulder, ready to pull back if the other man did not feel comfortable with this. When he didn’t notice any change in the other’s attitude, Roman closed his eyes and smiled, feeling happier than he ever had.

Virgil looked down at the figure of the man next to him. So many questions raced through his head. Who was Roman really? Where did he come from? What had happened to him? Why did he not talk? There was so much Virgil longed to know about this mysterious guest, but he feared he might never find the answers he was looking for. Unless they found a way to communicate, those questions would remain unanswered.

He wasn’t complaining, though; not at all! He didn’t need to know everything about Roman’s past to know he enjoyed his company. Roman was so unique and something about his attitude was just so endearing. And something about him was just so… familiar. It was as if they had known each other for years, even if they had just met a few hours ago. It was curious and Virgil wanted to find out where this came from.

 

The two sat in silence, both lost in their own thoughts for what felt like a few moments, yet at the same time, it felt like hours. The sky had grown pitch black by the time Virgil decided he had to go to his room himself.

“Roman,” he said softly, looking down at the man on his shoulder. The latter stirred a little in response and Virgil smiled as he continued. “I think I should go to my room soon. It’s getting late.”

Reluctantly, Roman nodded and sat up straight – as straight as he could be, at least. If he could, he wanted Virgil to stay with him for the night. He knew he couldn’t ask this of the royal, but he honestly did not want the man to leave him behind right now.

“If you need me, my room is the one opposite yours,” Virgil informed as he slowly got up – unwilling to leave, himself. “Valerie’s room is left of mine, so you can also go to her if you need help, okay?”

Roman nodded as he looked at the clothes next to him. Maybe it was time for him to go to sleep soon, he reasoned. It had been an exhausting day for him, after all.

So when Virgil had left his room, Roman changed into the nightwear – which was infinitely more comfortable than the clothes he wore previously. The shirt was a little too big, but the man liked the way it looked on him, and it felt good.

In these clothes, Roman walked to the window on the other side of the room. In the distant darkness, he could see the sea and he couldn’t stop a wave of homesickness of rippling through his body. He absolutely loved the few hours he had spent here on the land, but he had to say that he missed his friends, his family, and even his father. The human world was so different from the world under the sea. Not in a bad way. It was just… different.

With a sigh, the man turned around and headed towards the bed. His step was still a little inconsistent and he lost his balance a few times, but he was getting the hang of this whole walking-thing. It filled him with a weird kind of content to notice he was making quick progress. He couldn’t wait to see what tomorrow would bring.

Roman smiled as he sat down on the mattress – it was surprisingly soft and Roman let out a soundless giggle as he noticed. He laid back and closed his eyes. Yeah, this was something he could get used to. The man turned around and wrapped the blankets around him.

It didn’t take long to fall asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day two. Virgil takes Roman on a trip. Gay ensues.

The next day, Roman was woken up by the light of the sun shining into his eyes. For a few moments, he was disoriented. The atmosphere was different from what he was used to. Drier, lighter, warmer. The bed he was nothing like he was used to. It was soft, warm. It was weird, and wrong.

However, not much later Roman remembered. He remembered the deal he had made with Deceit and how he traded his voice for legs. As he realised, he kicked up his feet with a goofy smile, seeing that this was real, not a dream. Only then, he opened his eyes, squinting in order to be able to see a little without the sun blinding him. As he looked around, Roman found that there were two pieces of dark fabric on both sides of the window. Probably to keep the light out, Roman reasoned. He should probably remember to close them the next time, maybe that would prevent the sun from waking him up.

With that realisation, Roman closed his eyes and turned his back to the bright outside, hoping to get a little more rest before getting out of the bed. Sure, he was excited to go out and explore the village, but this bed was _so comfortable_. He didn’t understand how these humans got anything done, with their beds being this soft and warm. If he was being honest, he’d probably stay here forever, if he didn’t have a time limit.

Roman wasn’t sure exactly how long it had been before he managed to get himself out of bed. As soon as he got up, the former merman immediately missed the warmth of the covers. But nevertheless, he changed clothes and walked out of the room, deciding it was time for him to search for the dining room so he could have breakfast.

For a few minutes, he wandered around, trying to remember the location of the dining room, but in vain. Luckily, he ran into Valerie. The girl smiled at him as she saw him walking around.

“Roman!” she greeted with a smile. “How are you? Did you sleep well?”

Roman nodded with a smile as he came to a halt next to the princess. She was wearing a long, purple dress. It was simpler than the one she had worn the day before, but it was just as gorgeous. Especially its long sleeves, that at first clung to her arms, but gradually flared a little. It looked _stunning_.

“That’s great!” she smiled, as she noticed Roman’s eyes wandering to the dress she was wearing and she gasped as she remembered something. “Thomas stopped by my room yesterday, he told me you were looking for a dress? I have got a few that might fit you? So if you want, you can come back to my room, and we could try something?”

The man’s eyes widened in glee as he nodded vigorously. His craving for breakfast totally forgotten. If he could, he would want to put on one of those dresses as soon as possible. Could he do it now?

Valerie chuckled at the male’s enthusiasm and as she asked Roman if he wanted to try a dress immediately, he nodded again, with an ever-growing smile.

“Alright then,” the girl smiled. She gestured for Roman to follow her as she made her way towards her room. Again, Roman tried to memorize their path, but he had soon forgotten.

Soon enough, though, Roman recognized the hallway they were in. He saw the door to his room and the door to Virgil’s. Then next to that, would be Valerie’s room.

As it turned out, he was right. Valerie walked over to the door left of the one that would lead to Virgil’s room and opened the door, beckoning Roman to follow her. Without hesitating, the former merman did as he was told. Quickly, he walked into the room, hoping to find a dress for him.

He was stood in a room that was a little bigger than his own. The walls had a light blue colour, with white patterns of flowers. A king-sized bed that nearly cracked underneath the number of pillows it carried was shoved against one of the walls, an old chest in front of it. A small couch stood in the corner of the room, next to a bookshelf full of books Roman would love to read if he actually had the time to learn the human alphabet.

Valerie led him to a door on the left side of her room, leading into a giant walk-in closet that carried every outfit the princess owned. And that was a lot – much more than she could ever need, she told Roman. She also told him he could pick anything that he liked and they would see how it fit him. The man nodded and stepped into the princess’ large walk-in closet full of colourful outfits. It was practically heaven for him, to be honest. Every dress looked as gorgeous as the last, but there was one that stood out to Roman.

It was a long, bright red dress with a formfitting top, decorated with flowers, long sleeves that started underneath the shoulders. The skirt was made out of a thin fabric that gracefully flowed down in multiple layers, creating a wavy effect. The bottom was decorated with patterns of golden flowers twisted around each other in a circle. It was honestly gorgeous.

With a grin, Roman pointed at the dress and turned to Valerie, quietly indicating that this was the dress he wanted to try on. The girl got the hint and walked towards the dress, picking it up. She told Roman to follow her to her room, so she could help him into the dress. Roman nodded and did as he was told, barely able to contain his excitement.

When the two of them were stood in the middle of the room, Valerie helped Roman slip into the dress. He put it on and Valerie stepped behind him so she could adjust the corset to fit the man perfectly.

“I don’t know when it is too tight for you,” the princess started as she fiddled with the laces of the corset. “So just, eh… tap my hand when it’s too much, okay? I don’t want to suffocate you.”

Roman nodded, looking down at the skirt of his dress. Valerie took this as a ‘yes’ and started tying the laces.

It took them a while and a few taps to get it right, but finally, Valerie had finished it. She stepped back and led Roman to the mirror so he could see his new outfit for himself. And when he stepped in front of the mirror, he nearly gasped at what he saw before him. It looked so different from what he was used to. So different, but not in a weird way. No, it felt familiar. Like it was supposed to be like this. It was meant to be. He felt so pretty in this outfit. It felt _good_. He couldn’t wait to show Virgil.

Valerie noticed the serene smile on the man’s face and subconsciously, a smile grew on her own face. He looked so ecstatic with this dress. His fingers never stopped playing with the thin fabric of the red skirt and the long sleeves.

“You should make a twirl,” Valerie advised Roman with a smile. “See what that does.”

Roman looked at the princess for a second, mulling over her words for just a few seconds before nodding and doing what the girl told him. His twirl was a little unsteady, but the flowing of the dress was still gorgeous. The man smiled silently as he made another twirl, keeping his eyes focussed on the red and gold skirt.

“You like it, don’t you?” Valerie asked, though it sounded more like a statement than a question. Roman turned to her with a smile as he nodded. “Keep it then. It’s a gift.”

At these words, the man turned to the princess with a huge grin. He stepped forwards and wrapped his arms around her, wordlessly thanking her. Valerie giggled softly, returning the hug eagerly.

“Hey, Ro, have you had breakfast yet?” the princess questioned out of the blue. Roman shook his head, sneaking a glance at the mirror, so he could get another look of him in this gorgeous dress. “Alright, I will show you to the dining room, then.”

Roman nodded and followed Valerie as she left the room. This time, Roman actually tried to remember their route. It was complicated, but he thought he might be able to do it this time? However, only time would answer this question. He’d just have to wait.

When the two of them reached the dining room, Virgil just left the great hall. He wasn’t facing the two people approaching, but Valerie called out to him, already knowing that Roman would want to see the prince’s reaction to the change in outfit – and to be fair; she was curious as well.

At hearing his sister’s voice, Virgil looked up. He was about to react to the call, when he noticed Roman standing next to her. His eyes widened slightly, but he covered his shocked reaction up with a cough. Roman looked absolutely _stunning_ in that dress. It was as if it had been made with him in mind. The colour suited him so well and it just… it looked amazing on him. Like it was supposed to be like this. It was meant to be.

“Roman,” Virgil said as he approached his guest with a smile. “You look… gorgeous.”

Roman grinned and nodded his head as a thank you, his hands stroking the skirt of his dress. He never wanted to take off the dress. He felt so good, so comfortable in the dress. It was right.

The three of them stood there for a few moments, Virgil practically speechless, looking at the man before him. After a while, though, Valerie took Roman to the dining room, as he did still need to eat. But not before Virgil had made an arrangement with their guest to go out to the town in about in hour after that.

Roman had a modest breakfast, still not sure how he felt about the weird eating habits of humans. It was really something he had to get used to, he reasoned.

When he had finished, Valerie helped Roman find his way back to his own room, where he could freshen up a little. All the time, the man thought of what he would be doing later. About what they would see, where they would go and what they would do.

He could not contain his excitement and as soon as he was done, he walked out into the hallway, waiting for Virgil to arrive. In reality, it only lasted a few minutes, but those minutes couldn’t have passed by any slower.

“Are you ready to go out?” Virgil asked Roman carefully as he – finally – stepped out of his room. The other man nodded excitedly and, in a bout of courage, grabbed the prince’s hand as he hurried through the hallways. He wanted to go out into the human world as quickly as he could. For months, _years_ , he had admired the world of humanity from a distance, and now, it was finally time to admire it from nearby. Finally.

Virgil chuckled at the enthusiasm of his friend – he really considered Roman a friend, even if they only met a day ago. There was a certain familiarity between the two of them that words couldn’t describe. It felt like they had known each other for years already.

After a while, Roman realised he had no idea where they were going. He tried to reach the outside from his memory, but has no idea if he was going in the right direction. So he slowly came to a halt and turned around, looking at Virgil with a sheepish smile.

The prince had already figured out that the other man had no idea where to go; he was just curious to see how long it would take him to actually admit this. And he had to say, it took him longer than he had anticipated.

“Need some help getting out?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at his friend. Roman nodded and he looked down at their intertwined hands. Virgil chuckled and his free hand reached up to cup Roman’s cheek, but he changed his mind at the last second and dropped his hand. He had no idea if Roman was comfortable with this kind of touch, and scaring the other man off was the last thing he wanted to do. “Come on, I’ll show you the _right_ way.”

Virgil led Roman outside, to the carriage that stood in front of the palace. As soon as he saw the four black horses in front of the carriage, Roman opened his mouth in a silent gasp. He had seen sculptures of these animals, and drawings and bits of information about them in what was left of the books that had disappeared below the surface, but he had never seen them in real life! They were so much bigger and more beautiful than the man had thought they would be.

He turned to Virgil with a smile and pointed at the horses, hoping he would be allowed to approach them.

“Yeah, you can get closer,” the prince nodded, “they don’t bite. As far as I’m concerned, at least.”

Roman nodded as he slowly approached the large animals, dragging Virgil along with him. The four horses neighed softly as they saw the two men near them and Roman smiled at Virgil with a childlike glee. When he reached the nearest horse, the former merman carefully lifted a hand to pet the animal, scared to startle it.

He combed his fingers through the horse’s long manes, slowly trying to work up to courage to pet its neck, or head. Virgil said a few words to the charioteer, who was waiting for the two of them – but Roman didn’t process the words. They weren’t meant for him anyways.

Finally, Roman decided to pet the horse’s head. He cautiously lifted his hand, afraid to stab the animal in its eye if he did the wrong thing. Virgil noticed the man’s caution and he watched the scene with a smile. When Roman finally touched the stripe of white that ran between the horse’s two eyes, his face lit up with new excitement and his movements slowly got more confident.

He pet the horse for a few more moments, but he realised that they had to move eventually. So after a while, he dropped his hand next to his side and looked at the prince who still held his hand, nodding to the carriage, hoping Virgil would get the hint.

“You’re ready to go now?” Virgil was pretty sure he understood what Roman meant, but he had to be sure, just in case. Roman nodded. “Alright, let’s go, then.”

Virgil made his way to the carriage, now dragging Roman along with him, instead of the other way around. He smiled at the charioteer as he helped his friend into the carriage, explaining to the other what he had planned.

“There is a market in town, I thought you might want to go there,” the prince told, “and there is a strip of the beach I want to show you. It’s completely desolate, I don’t think anyone has ever gone there. Maybe we could eat something up there, look out over the sea, enjoy some time alone... And if you’re interested, I could show you some of the older buildings in town, I think you’d love them.”

Roman beamed up at the man who was now sat next to him in the carriage. He nodded vigorously. All of that sounded fantastic – though he had to admit, doing anything with Virgil would be fantastic. The man held onto Virgil’s arm and rested his head on the other’s shoulder. The carriage moved forwards with a start, causing Roman to nearly tumble out of his seat. Luckily, he had gripped Virgil’s arm, for that kept him in place a bit.

The prince quickly wrapped his arms around Roman’s waist to catch him if he fell. With a fond smile, he looked down at the man in his arms.

“Careful there, Ro,” he chuckled. “You- you don’t mind it if I call you Ro, right?”

Roman shook his head subtly as he turned his head to look at the outside. They slowly started moving through the roads, the view of the sea quickly making place for the small houses and building of the city.

Virgil nodded and for a while, he didn’t speak up, instead cherishing the presence of Roman. There was something about this man that just… drew him in, in a strange way. It called out to him without making a sound. It intrigued him. But he couldn’t put his finger on it. He had no idea what it was, or why it called out to him the way that it did. He wanted to find out, but he had no idea where to look. Surely, if he was meant to find out, he would. That’s what he hoped, at least.

Then, the carriage stopped and Roman, who had been staring at the outside world for the entire ride, sat up and turned to the human prince with a big, childish grin. He could barely contain his excitement and joy, and for what must have been the millionth time in the past day, Virgil felt a smile appearing on his face, as he looked at his friend. God, his excitement was so contagious and just _adorable_. Everything about Roman was just adorable. The way he got excited by the smallest of things, the way he smiled when he got this enthusiastic, the way his eyes lit up. Everything. He was adorable.

The two of them got out of the carriage – Roman tripping over the long skirt of his dress as he did so. Again, Virgil managed to catch the other man before he was met with this ground and he looked at Roman with another soft chuckle.

“You need watch your step, Ro,” he advised, with a light-hearted huff. “One of these times you’re going to make a nasty fall and I won’t be able to catch you.”

Roman nodded with a smile equal to Virgil’s. He rested his head against Virgil’s chest for a few moments, cherishing the brief touch before pulling away again.

“You might want to pull up your skirt a bit when we walk through town, though,” the prince said. “Then you won’t trip over it. That seems to work, at least.”

Roman nodded once again and did as Virgil told him. The prince smiled at his friend and beckoned for him to follow him as he walked towards the city.

The carriage had stopped just outside of the town and as soon as they approached, Roman understood why. The narrow streets were filled with people and stalls bearing all kinds of products ranging from clothes to food to flowers to decoration. Everything was there. Roman grinned as he grabbed Virgil’s hand, pulling him along to the first stall he could see. The prince laughed softly as he followed, making sure not to step on the flowing skirt of Roman’s dress.

As soon as they stopped in front of the first stall, Roman let go of Virgil’s hand and started studying the small statuettes on the table before him. He vaguely heard people greeting the prince, shocked at his presence, but he couldn’t care less. At the moment, all he cared about, was the gorgeous pieces in front of him.

“Hey, Ro?” Roman looked up, finally tearing his gaze away from the stall before him as he met Virgil’s eyes, waiting for him to continue. “If there is anything you want, I would love to buy it for you, okay?”

Roman nodded as he bit his lip. Then, he turned back to the statuettes. If he could, he would buy all of them, but he couldn’t ask that of Virgil. But they were just all so _gorgeous_. There were small images of two people together; horses and other animals that Roman had never heard of. It was all so pretty!

But then, one particular piece caught his attention. Two people, dancing together. The woman wore a red dress and was leaning against the man, one leg raised high. The man supported her with both his arms. Roman found that something about it was so captivating. It was so gorgeous.

And he just… knew. He needed it.

He turned around, tapping Virgil’s shoulder to get the man’s attention. When he had finally obtained this, he pointed to the statuette he had seen. Virgil smiled as his eyes studied Roman’s face. The eagerness was practically visible in his eyes. There was something so pure, and so charming about it.

Virgil turned to the merchant on the other side and announced he wanted to buy the statuette of the dancing couple. The merchant smiled and announced their price, which Virgil quickly paid.

The merchant thanked the prince as they picked up the statuette and handed it to him.

“There you go, Your Highness,” they smiled. “If I may ask, who is your companion?”

Virgil looked at Roman for a moment before answering this question, silently asking if it was okay to respond to this. The latter immediately nodded, seeing what the prince was trying to do. Content with this answer, Virgil turned to the merchant again.

“His name is Roman,” he responded. “He is a friend of mine. He would answer for himself, but he does not really talk.”

“I see,” the merchant nodded. “well, Roman, I must say: that dress looks stunning on you.”

Roman grinned broadly and made a small courtesy like he had seen the maids in the palace do, as a thank you. The merchant smiled and nodded as Virgil said his goodbyes. The statuette had been put away in a satchel Virgil had brought with him. He carefully placed his hand on Roman’s waist, trying to move the two of them through the crowd.

For one moment, Roman looked down at the hand and smiled, very well aware of the prince’s touch. As soon as there was an opening, the two men moved forwards, walking to the next few stalls, which Roman found equally fascinating as the first.

The two of them walked past stall after stall for what must have been at least a few hours. Finally, Virgil bought some bread and fruit from a merchant and he led Roman away from the ruckus of the market, showing him to a part of the beach, far away from the town. It had been concealed by a number of large boulders, shielding the little piece of land from the rest of the world. The noise of the town had died down significantly and Roman could actually hear the sounds of nature. The waves crashing on the sand, birds, the sounds of wind as it brushed past their ears. It was so peaceful.

“Come on, sit down,” Virgil told Roman with a reassuring smile. “It is safe, trust me.”

Roman did as he was told and sat down next to the prince, leaning into him ever so slightly. Virgil looked at the man with a smile and bit his lip.

“I love this spot,” the man explained softly as he got the bread he had bought. “I come here as often as I can. It’s so calm here, so beautiful. At least here, I can just… sit down and… relax for a while, you know? I don’t _have_ to do anything here, there are no obligations here. It’s one of the few places I know I can be all alone.”

Roman nodded, knowing exactly what Virgil meant. It was one of the reasons he loved his cave on the bottom of the ocean so much. Because he knew he could be alone there. No one had ever been into that cave, as far as he knew, at least. At he would prefer for it to remain like that. Or actually… it didn’t matter anymore, did it? No matter what happened, he wouldn’t be able to return to the cave anyways. He either remained a human forever, or he- well, he didn’t.

The man absentmindedly took a piece of bread Virgil handed him and took a small bite, taking his time to get used to the strange texture of the food. The taste, he could deal with, but the texture was so… weird. There were no words fit to describe the sensation.

The two of them sat there in silence as they ate their food. Every once in a while, Roman would glance at the other man, noticing how he stared at the sand below him, lost in thought. He was thinking about something, something serious it seemed. He hardly even blinked. Something was up.

Deciding that he had to know whether Virgil was okay, Roman carefully placed one of his hands on Virgil’s forearm. The human prince startled as his thoughts were interrupted and he looked up at his friend, looking like a deer in headlights. Once he saw the concern on Roman’s face, he relaxed immediately.

“Ro, I- I’m sorry,” he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I was… thinking.”

Roman cocked his head, silently asking Virgil what was going on. At least- that was his intention. He just hoped Virgil got the hint.

“I… I don’t want to bother you with it,” Virgil said, shaking his head. “It’s stupid.”

Roman shook his head, placing his other hand on one of Virgil’s hands. It seemed pretty serious; he couldn’t imagine the problem being _stupid_.

The human prince looked at the man in front of him, mulling over his words for a few moments, before sighing finally.

“Fine,” he said, “it’s just… Thomas has wanted me to find a guy to marry for ages. He says I need to find myself a partner to be at my side when I become a king, and I’ve always put it off. I don’t see the point in marrying someone if I don’t love them, you know? But it seems that everyone seems to want me to marry a prince from an influential family, to expand our power, et cetera. Leaving out the fact that it’s quite difficult to even find a gay prince, there is no one I actually _like_ , and I don’t plan on marrying some douchebag just because of status. But now… I told you about this angel, the one who saved me, right? Well… Thomas told me that- he came up with this idea to have a- a contest. To help me find this angel. It’s ridiculous, of course, but it… it might just work. Well, the contest is tomorrow and I’m afraid that… if I find them, if my angel _is_ one of the contestants. I don’t know what will happen. I fear that they expect me to want to marry them but… I don’t know them. I don’t want to marry someone because of this one memory. I want to get to know them, I want to know that I am comfortable around them before I make that choice. And besides, I- I don’t think I am ready for the responsibility.”

He chuckled softly as he finished talking. He looked up at Roman, who grabbed both his hands, thinking of how best to express the words he wanted to express. He wanted to tell Virgil that everything was going to be okay. That he was going to be there for him. And maybe, just maybe, that _he_ was his angel. But how could one express all of that using only gestures and expressions? There was no way to tell him all of this. As a sort of compromise with himself, Roman just shot the other his best reassuring look and hoped he would make his point clear.

He also hoped the fear he felt wasn’t _too_ noticeable. What if tomorrow, Virgil would find someone? What if he found someone he thought was his saviour, his angel? What if they got along? Roman had to get Virgil to kiss him today or tomorrow. If he failed, his chance at becoming a human forever would be ruined.

 

Suddenly, Roman saw something out of the corner of his eye. Something familiar in the water. It was just a fraction of a second, but Roman had seen the familiar shade of light blue too often to be mistaken. It was Patton’s tail. It just had to be.

Roman wasn’t sure if the presence of his friend was meant to be a comfort or not, but it was weirdly reassuring to know that his friend was there. However, he did wonder how the merman even knew he was there in the first place? Had he been keeping an eye on him? It couldn’t be a coincidence, could it? That would be just a little _too_ coincidental.  

A few seconds later, a shy face popped up for just a second and Roman’s suspicions were confirmed: it was Patton. The merman smiled and gave Roman a thumbs up before disappearing below the surface again.

“Ro, are you… okay?” Virgil asked, turning to the ocean himself. “Is anything… _up_?”

Roman was pulled out of his trance and he quickly turned to the prince, shaking his head. He tried to avert Virgil’s attention. The man could not see Patton in the river. He couldn’t find out about the civilization below the water surface. Roman was sure that Virgil would not mean any harm, that the secret would be safe with him, but he couldn’t find out. The sea-king had been adamant about it: humans could not find out about their existence. And Roman had to respect that, even now.

“Nothing?” the male human asked. “Are you sure?”

Roman nodded, his eyes shooting over to the ocean, where he could vaguely see something that might have been a Patton, just below the surface. He then focussed all of his attention on Virgil again and smiled. The prince wasn’t totally convinced of this, but he didn’t pry. If Roman didn’t want to tell him something was wrong, he didn’t want to tell him. Virgil didn’t want to make his new friend uncomfortable and screw this whole thing up.

“Alright,” Virgil nodded slowly, reaching for his satchel again, “I believe you. Here, have an apple.”

He tossed a fruit to Roman, who just managed to catch it before it fell to the ground. As he took a bite of the thing Virgil had to referred to as an ‘apple’, Roman’s eyes wandered over to the ocean again. He never really realised how much he would miss his friends. It had barely been a day, and he already missed them. If only he could talk to them. See them again. What if he would never be able to see them again? What if he could never talk to them again? Roman didn’t want to think of that, but now that the possibility had crossed his mind, it was difficult to get rid of it. What if his last ever conversation with his father had been a fight? What if he never saw his sisters again? What if he never spoke to his friends again? Oh God, he really hadn’t thought this through, had he?

The man tried to push these thoughts aside as he slowly chewed on the apple, sneakily observing Virgil to find out _how_ to eat this. It was a strange-looking food, but the fresh taste was… not bad. It was different from what was Roman was used to, but he really liked the taste. It was sweet and fresh and nice.

Every once in a while, Virgil would look up at Roman with a smile, after which Roman would look away, only to sneakily glance at the prince again mere seconds later.

 

When they had finished their apples, Virgil got up and reached a hand out to Roman, who took it without hesitation. The human prince helped the other up and carefully approached the waves that hit the shore. Roman sighed as the two of them came to a halt, the cold water at their ankles. The water touched the skirt of Roman’s dress, but the man didn’t care. He just sighed and pulled himself a little closer to the man next to him.

The water tickling his toes felt strange, yet familiar. It was a little reminder of his home. His friends. His family. A reminder of where he came from.

“Sometimes I wish I could just stay here,” Virgil breathed, carefully wrapping one of his arms around his companion’s waist. “It’s so peaceful, and so quiet. It’s just… pure nature, and I… sometimes, I don’t want to go back.”

Roman nodded, resting his head against Virgil’s shoulder. If he could, he would tell the other man about his cave at home- in the ocean. About how he went there if he needed to be alone, if he needed to calm down. About how he never wanted to go back into the world when he was there.

 

“Can you dance?” Roman looked up at Virgil at this sudden question and shrugged. He had never done it with legs before, so he didn’t really know. He had done it more than enough in the ocean, but that was something different than this. He would need to use his feet somehow. But even if he couldn’t do this, he would love to learn. Even if it was just an excuse to be close to Virgil.

“Well… do you want to?” Virgil asked shyly, not daring to look at the other as he asked this, afraid the other would reject his suggestion. Much to his surprise, though, Roman nodded quickly. He looked as enthusiastic at the prospect as ever. No matter how often he saw this, Virgil still found the man’s enthusiasm and glee was so damn _adorable_. This man truly was one of a kind, he realised.  

Carefully, as if he was scared to invade Roman’s personal space and make his friend uncomfortable, Virgil turned to Roman, grabbing one of his hands.

“Okay, then,” the prince nodded as he showed Roman how to position his free hand. “I will lead, you just have to follow what I do, alright?”

Roman nodded and smiled at he looked down at their feet. Virgil muttered some directions as they moved around. Slow at first, but gradually speeding up, making the same patterns, leaving the prints of their movements behind in the sand.

Then, in a moment of courage he never expected to arise again, Virgil moved his hands to Roman’s waist.

“Now, wrap your arms around my shoulders and lean back,” he muttered with a smile, “I will support you.”

Roman nodded and did as he was told. He lowered himself, leaning into Virgil’s arms as one of the prince’s arms moved up to his shoulder blades. Roman had to admit, it was slightly terrifying to be in a position like this, but at the same time, he didn’t mind at all. He smiled up at Virgil and he could swear he saw the other man lean in a little. Surely, that had to be imagined, right? Wait- no, he surely did not imagine it.

His heartbeat sped up. Was this really going to happen? Could this be true? Roman was afraid to set himself up for disappointment. This could be false hope, just an illusion. Or it could be true. It really did seem like Virgil was leaning in to kiss him.

And their faces were so, so close, when Roman felt something wrap itself around one of his ankles. He brushed it off as seaweed and didn’t worry about it any longer than he had to. But then, as the waves started retreating, the seaweed was pulled along, and it took Roman’s leg with it, causing the former merman to slip away before their lips could meet.

As if in slow motion, Roman could feel him losing his footing and falling into the shallow water with a splash. For one moment, the air was forced out of his lungs as he collided with the ground, but as soon as that happened, it was okay again.

“Oh, my goodness,” Virgil exclaimed, immediately helping the other up, “Roman, are you okay?”

Roman nodded with a smile as he got up again. It was just a small fall, he hardly noticed it had happened. The only thing that bothered him, was that the moment between him and Virgil had been spoiled. If only it had happened a second later, it would have been fine. They would have kissed and Roman would be a human. _Permanently_.

But fate seemed to have other plans.  


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day three. The day of the contest. Many princes come to try and win Virgil's heart. Roman tries to beat them to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Deceit, I think you can file this as kidnapping/hostage situation? (Major?) character death, but it's not that explicit

Roman quickly dismissed the incident, letting Virgil help him up. After the prince made sure his friend was okay – about twenty times – the two men headed back into the town. Virgil showed Roman every part of the town, showing him the old churches and building and narrow streets. It was lovely. Roman already saw himself walking through the town on a daily basis, talking to the people he knew. God, he wanted that to come true.

The entire day was a blast. Roman just wanted it to last forever. But, like everything, it had to come to an end. They had dinner in town – Roman suspected Virgil wanted to put off going back to the palace as long as he could – before they finally got in the carriage, heading back.

“So, what did you think?” Virgil asked as they sat down in the carriage. He looked at Roman expectantly, awaiting his response. The man nodded with a big grin. He had no idea how to express everything he felt with a simple gesture. Nothing would be strong enough to express the sheer feeling of bliss he had felt that day. Everything was new. Everything was exciting. Everything was _incredible._

“I am going to assume you had a great time?” Again, Roman nodded and Virgil smiled, wrapping his arm around Roman’s waist. The two of them had come to a silent agreement that both of them were comfortable enough around each other to allow these kinds of intimacy and it just… it was right. It felt so natural. Nothing was forced, or awkward, or weird. They didn’t care. They loved each other.

 

As soon as the two of them set foot inside the palace, they were greeted by Thomas, who immediately approached Virgil.

“Your Highness,” he spoke quickly, leaving no room for greetings, “there you are. We need to discuss the events of tomorrow. Please, come with me.”

“Of course,” Virgil nodded, before turning to Roman. “I… I will see you later. I don’t know how long this will take, but maybe, I’ll stop by your room tonight? If that is okay with you?”

Roman gave the human prince a thumbs up, accompanied by a big grin. Of course, he would _love_ to see Virgil before he went to sleep. He would be honoured.

Virgil grinned as he followed Thomas to one of the many rooms in the palace. Meanwhile, Roman walked in the direction of his bedroom. His feet ached after walking around in that town for hours. He wasn’t used to walking, let alone walking for an entire day. He just longed to sit down on the couch in his bedroom and _rest_.

That is why, as soon as Roman entered his room, he walked over to the couch and practically fell down on the piece of furniture. This day had been exhausting as hell, but it had simultaneously been one of the best days in his life. He had seen so much, he had learned so many new things about the human world and its history. He wasn’t sure there was anything that could ever match that.

When Roman glanced out of the window, he saw that the sun had already set and the sky was starting to turn dark. Just one more day. He had one more day to make sure Virgil kissed him. Just one day. How on _earth_ was he supposed to do this?

After a while, Virgil stopped by, like he said he would. He gave Roman the statuette they had he had bought him earlier that day, and Roman placed it on his nightstand, looking at it with a proud smile, totally unaware of Virgil, watching him with fondness written all over his face. Then, Roman turned around and sat down on the couch, next to Virgil.

The two of them didn’t talk much; they just sat next to each other, Roman resting his head against Virgil’s chest, aware of the two arms wrapped around him. They just enjoyed each other’s company.

As they sat there, in comfortable silence, Roman couldn’t stop thinking about their moment earlier that day. They had nearly kissed. They were _so_ close. _So_ close to becoming a human permanently. _So_ close to achieving his dream. _So_ close. But not quite there.

 

The next day was hectic from the moment Roman stepped out of his room. Staff was hurrying around everywhere, making sure everything was in order for the contest later that day. More often than once, Roman nearly ran into someone who appeared out of nowhere, rushing off to an unknown destination.

As he had breakfast, maids kept running into the kitchen, making sure the cook had everything prepared, knew what they expected and what he had to do. It was utter chaos.

“It’s a mess here, isn’t it?” Valerie commented as she strode into the dining hall, just as Roman was about to leave. The man smiled and nodded in silent agreement. “Everything needs to be perfect for the princes because God forbid we make a slightly mediocre impression on them.”

Roman silently chuckled as he got up from the table. On the one hand, he was so excited to see these other princes. He wanted to see what they would look like, to see what they would wear. But at the same time… he was scared. Today would be his final day to make sure Virgil kissed him, and he would hardly be able to see the prince today. He would be busy, getting to know the other princes, talking to them, and – eventually – listening to their songs. Roman had no idea how he would be able to find the time to be with Virgil in private. He would never have thought that time would be an issue with this deal. Especially not after yesterday. But now, Roman would have to hurry if he wanted to stay with Virgil.

“Ro, are you alright?” Valerie asked, seeing the troubled look on the man’s face. Roman looked at her, eyes wide, like a dear caught in headlights, and nodded. The princess raised an eyebrow at the other, her mouth forming a sceptical pout, but Roman kept nodding, trying to convince her that he was _fine_. He wasn’t fine, but he would never admit that. He would have to explain why he felt like shit, and Valerie would never believe him if he managed. And besides, he didn’t want the princess to worry. She didn’t have to worry about him. He could take care of himself.

“Well, if you say so,” the princess shrugged. “But if you ask me, you don’t have to worry. Virgil makes stupid decisions sometimes. I doubt that he will find the person he is looking for. But he needs this. Still, if you ask me, you’ve got nothing to worry about. He really loves you, you know?” She chuckled as Roman raised an eyebrow and continued. “I can see he does. And I know you do too. You’re cute together.”

Roman just stared at Valerie, not quite sure what to think of this. Did she really think they were cute together? Did she really say that Virgil loves him? Would he still have a chance with the prince?

Valerie looked like she was about to say something, but before she could, Thomas came running up to the two of them, telling Valerie that she was needed in the ballroom.

“Oh… can’t it wait just a bit?” the princess asked. “I’m kind of in the middle of something…”

“I’m afraid it can’t, Your Highness,” Thomas responded quickly, looking down at a few papers in his hands. “It is urgent.”

“Alright,” Valerie nodded before turning to Roman with an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, Ro, we’ll have to do this later, then.”

Roman gave her a quick nod as she already rushed off, following Thomas. It really was chaos in the palace this morning. With a sigh, the man turned around. With both Virgil and Valerie occupied, he might as well go off by himself. Maybe he could find a quiet place to overthink his next move.

Finally, he decided to go to the beach, where he could stare at the sea and be alone. It would be the perfect place to stay and think. The man slowly made his way towards the beach, glancing back at the palace every once in a while.

Once he made it to the beach, Roman sat down on one of the rocks near the water. With a quiet sigh, he leaned back on the rock. He had no idea what to do. How could he tell Virgil to stop looking for his angel? How could he do this while still sounding believable? Virgil would never believe him.

Roman was so lost in thought, that he didn’t hear Patton coming up to him. Only when the merman called his name, did he notice the other’s presence. He sat up with a start and looked at the other with wide eyes. However, as soon as he saw it was his friend, he relaxed with a huff of breath that would have been a chuckle, had he still had a voice.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you, kiddo,” Patton apologised, making sure no one else was around. “You just looked so… down, so I wanted to check on you. How are things with your prince?”

Roman shrugged. How were things? He wasn’t sure. Valerie had told him Virgil _loved_ him, but… the contest was coming up tonight, and Roman didn’t know what to do. Virgil was so hung up on the idea of this angel, and Roman couldn’t even tell him that _he_ was the angel.

“Really? I saw things went pretty well yesterday,” the merman winked, looking up at his friend expectantly. “I swear I’m not spying on you, though! Lo and I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

Roman nodded, but he didn’t look as elated as Patton would have thought he would. The older male frowned at this and leaned a little closer.

“Are you alright, Ro?” he asked carefully. “I mean… things went well yesterday, right? Don’t you have a chance with him?”

Again, Roman shrugged and he made a dismissive gesture with his hand. The whole situation was way too complicated to explain without any words. He wanted to, of course he wanted to tell Patton the whole story, but it was too difficult.

“Is that a no?” Roman shrugged yet again. To be fair, he didn’t know. He didn’t know if he had a chance with Virgil or not. He wanted to… but did he really have a chance? How could he be sure? He didn’t know. “So… you don’t know, then?”

This time Roman nodded and Patton bit his lip as he mulled over this information.

“Well,” he said eventually, “you still have one day. Maybe you should go back and try your best to impress him, huh?”

Roman slowly nodded. Maybe Patton had a point. If he could still see Virgil before the contest started, maybe he would have a chance with him. But he had to leave right now, if he wanted to find Virgil in time.

The man quickly got up, nearly tripping over the long skirt of his dress. He pointed at the castle, looking at Patton to make sure his friend understood.

“You’re going back?” the merman asked for clarification. Roman nodded and waved as he took a few steps back. “Alright, kiddo. Good luck with your prince!”

Roman smiled and nodded again, before going back to the palace.

 

When he got back, Roman noticed a few men already had arrived. Dressed in fancy clothing, acting like they were the best of the best; they had to be the princes for the contest. The young man smiled at a few princes who looked at him, made a quick bow, and hurried away. He might still he able to find Virgil.

After a while of aimless wandering, he finally found the human prince. They talked for a short bit, but before Roman could even try to set the correct mood, the other man was called away by Thomas. He had to greet the other princes, or something. Which meant they were all there. Which meant that the contest could start any minute now. Which meant that the chances of him kissing Virgil grew slimmer and slimmer every second.

It took a while before the contest actually started, but even in those final moment, Roman could find his dream prince exactly nowhere. When the beginning of the contest was announced, the former merman sighed. Might as well go over to the ballroom to see what would happen.

A small number of princes had gathered, no more than ten. None of them looked at the others, seemingly lost in their own world and preparations. There was something amusing about seeing these royals warming up their voice and pacing the room as they did other vocal exercises. Valerie was on the other side of the room, watching the princes and her brother, who was talking to Thomas. Roman quietly joined her, and when she greeted him, responded with a smile that didn’t exactly convey his true feelings. He was terrified of what was about to happen, but of course, he couldn’t show this. They wouldn’t understand it anyways.

Before the two could even exchange a single word, Thomas stepped forwards. Virgil sat down on a chair as Thomas spoke up, starting the contest. Then, the princes started singing.

Roman had to admit, they had great voices, every one of them. They had their own unique sound, and the former merman would never have said that each of these princes could sing as beautifully as they did. But none of them had _his_ voice, none of them was Virgil’s angel, and the human prince knew this as well. With every new royal, his hope of finding his saviour diminished, even though his attitude remained unchanged. Somehow, this gave Roman some new hope. Maybe he still had a chance.

But then, the last prince started singing. And Roman could have sworn his heart stopped. Because what he heard, was a voice that sounded like his. _A lot_. It was almost as if it was… his own voice. But that… no, that couldn’t be right, could it?

He glanced over to Virgil, and he seemed to have noticed the same thing. His eyes grew wide and he sat up a little straighter, looking at the prince, who even looked like Roman.

The man wore a black suit, with a few splashes of yellow in the details. His look was almost exactly Roman. The hair was a little bit darker, the skin tone just a little different and the eyes were greener, but other than that… they could be twins. And then his voice… which sounded so much like Roman’s. It was almost too coincidental. As if someone was there, carrying Roman’s voice, trying to-

But… what if it _was_? What if this guy wasn’t a human at all, what if it was Deceit, in disguise, trying to sabotage him. Would he do that? Would the witch go that far just to win? But… why would he do that?

The prince finished his song and smiled as he looked at Virgil’s shocked expression. His eyes quickly darted over to Roman and the smirk he sent his way was more than enough confirmation. This wasn’t a human.

Virgil got up, ready to announce that the prince dressed in yellow and black was the one, but Roman quickly grabbed his skirt and ran over to Virgil, ignoring Valerie’s calls.

Roman rushed towards the human prince and grabbed his hands, shaking his head vehemently.

“Ro?” Virgil asked in confusion, looking at the smaller man. “What is it?”

Roman pointed at the other prince – Deceit – and shook his head. He released Virgil’s hands and made a cross with his own hands.

"What are you saying?” the prince wondered, looking at his friend. “I shouldn't…? But... Ro..."

Roman sighed and stopped for a moment, thinking of the best way to get his point across. Finally, he just tapped his throat and made a cross with his hands.

"You don't have a voice?” Virgil translated. “I knew that."

Roman nodded as he repeated the gesture. Then he pointed to Deceit. The other man was looking outside, but neither of them seemed to notice.

"You don't have a voice, but… he does? Ro, I- I don't understand."

For the third time, Roman pointed to his throat. Then, he pointed to Deceit. Then, he made a fist with his hand.

"He... took your voice?" Virgil asked, clearly uncertain of his case. In no way could this be the reality, could it?

But, to his surprise, Roman nodded vigorously as he repeated the gestures, to stress his point. Virgil raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

"So, it was you all along?"

Roman nodded, shooting the prince a careful smile. Neither of the two noticed the sun’s low position. However, one of the princes present did, and the sight elicited a smirk that could not mean anything good.

“My angel?”

Another nod.

"So you finally figured it out?” Deceit said, still using Roman’s voice. “I am _delighted_. However, it pains me to inform you that the sun has set."

Roman’s eyes grew wide and he shook his head, grabbing onto Virgil’s hands tightly. Deceit couldn’t be serious, could he? Sure, they hadn’t _kissed_ but… wasn’t this good enough to seal a deal? Virgil looked at the other man, and at their intertwined hands, a frown on his face.

"What does that mean?" he inquired. “What is going on?”

"It means you're out of time, Princey," Deceit smirked. He grabbed one of Roman’s arms and pried his hands away from Virgil, no matter how much the two struggled this. Then, he proceeded to leave the ballroom, heading outside, dragging a struggling Roman with him. As the spell the witch had cast three days ago was starting to wear off, Roman’s legs slowly started to change back into the red tail he once possessed and the male tripped and fell, but Deceit didn’t pay attention to this. All he focussed on, was getting Roman back to the underwater world. Where he belonged.

 

Virgil followed in confusion, not quite sure what was going on. Ignoring the screams of Thomas, the staff and princes, he ran outside, determined to rescue Roman.

He made it outside, and he was just in time to see the prince – was he even a prince? – dragging Roman closer to the sea. He cursed under his breath and quickly followed. It was a dead end, he knew that. There was nowhere to escape to but the sea, he _had_ to catch up to them somehow.

But, to his shock, the faux-prince dragged Roman to the surf, and he thought for a moment he saw a black tail starting to form, but then… they disappeared below the surface.

“What the-” Virgil mumbled under his breath. He already made his way into the ocean. He had to get Roman back. Was this some kind of diversion? Did the other male hope to lose him, and come up to escape later?

“You seem awfully confused, kiddo,” a voice suddenly commented out of nowhere, startling the human prince. He took a few steps back and looked in the direction of the voice, seeing a man in the water. But he was sure that there was no one before… what was happening? “Can I help you with something?”

“Who… who are you?”

“I… I’m a friend of Roman,” the man responded hesitantly. “I know you know him, too.”

“What is- do you know what’s going on? Who was that? What happened?” Virgil looked at the man below him, eyebrows furrowed. He really wanted to know what kind of crap he had managed to get himself into this time.

“Well,” the man responded. He slowly swam towards one of the rocks and pulled himself up as he spoke. “I’m not allowed to show you this, but you seem like a decent fellow. So-” He pulled himself on the rock, revealing not two legs, but… a light blue tail? “I’m a merman. So is Ro. He made a deal to become a human, in exchange for his voice, but only if you would kiss him before third sunset.”

Virgil raised an eyebrow. Many questions raced through his head, but none of them were a priority right now. Roman was his only priority.

“I didn’t do that,” he said quickly. “So what happens to him now?”

The other man- merman hesitated for a moment before responding: “His- his soul belongs to Deceit- the guy you just saw.”

“You’re joking.” Virgil said weakly. He hoped this was all a sick joke. A big act. This couldn’t be reality. Roman had to be okay.

“I’m sorry, kiddo,” the merman shrugged. “I’m not.”

“Can you take me to him?” Virgil’s sudden question surprised both himself and the merman on the rock. It had been an impulsive action, and he hadn’t even thought about the words before they left his mouth.

“What?”

“Can you take me to him?” the prince repeated. “I can’t hold my breath that long, but… if Roman could turn into a man… is there a chance I can turn into a merman? To help him?”

“There is _someone_ who could do that,” the other considered. “But I don’t know if he _will_. His relationship to humans is… not great. If you are sure you want this… I could ask him?”

“Please do,” the man nodded eagerly. “I can’t wait here. I want to help. I- I love Roman, and… I don’t want him to… I just want him to be save.”

“Alright,” the merman sighed, shooting the human prince a warm smile. “Stay here, I’ll try my best. No promises, though.”

“Thank you,” Virgil responded, as the merman disappeared below the water again.

Then, he waited. And as he waited, Virgil got the time to think. So… merfolk were real then? I mean… the guy who he had been talking to looked pretty convincing. His tail looked amazingly real, and it would explain how he had been able to hold his breath for so long – just like Roman and this Deceit-fellow. But… was this real? Was all of this really happening? What on earth had he gotten himself into?

After a while, the guy came back.

“Good, you’re still here!” he smiled as soon as he came up again. “Okay, so, I managed to convince the king, and he’ll allow you to help, but we’re gonna need you to go underwater for that. So… do you trust me?”

That was a good question. Did Virgil trust him? To be fair, he wasn’t sure. He didn’t know if he trusted this stranger. For all he knew, this could be a trick, an easy way to drown him. Maybe this was some sort of evil plan.

But Virgil quickly came to the realisation that he would rather risk his own life than Roman’s. He made his decision.

“Sure,” he said with one nod. The man grinned and followed for the prince to follow him. Virgil hesitantly followed, until he could barely keep his head above water.

“This should be good enough,” the man mumbled. “I’m going to grab your arm, okay?”

“Okay,” Virgil responded. He glanced over to the shore, and saw a number of people staring at him. He waved at them and gave them a thumbs up, hoping they would understand the gesture. He doubted it.

“Okay, I’m gonna go underwater on the count of three,” the merman instructed. “Are you with me?”

“Yeah.”

“Good,” he nodded. “One, two, _three_.”

On three, Virgil took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he submerged himself **in** the water of the ocean. He felt the merman’s hands around his arm, soon followed by another pair of hands grabbing his other arm. He didn’t know what was happening. The salt water burned in his nose and closed eyes. He couldn’t breathe.

For a moment, he panicked. It was a trap, wasn’t it? He was going to die, wasn’t he?

But then, Virgil felt a weird tingling in his legs. A warm glow spread as they seemed to be forced together by some invisible force. And slowly but surely, the sensation of legs disappeared altogether, instead making place for… a tail.

Virgil opened his eyes – the water didn’t burn anymore – and looked down. Instead of his two legs, he found a long, deep purple tail. The water didn’t burn anymore. He could breathe, look around, and _he wasn’t dying._

“Holy shit,” he muttered to himself, bringing him the shocking revelation that he could talk. The water got in his mouth, but it wasn’t unpleasant. Quite the opposite, really.  

Then, he looked up and found that he was face to face with a tall, intimidating merman. He had a large, gorgeously green tail, a long, white beard, and a huge trident in his hand. Virgil’s eyes grew wide as he laid eyes on the merman. Could it be that the stories the crew had told each other were true? Was this king Triton? The other merman _had_ mentioned that ‘the king’ was willing to change him into… into this.

“Your Majesty,” Virgil mumbled, making a clumsy bow while trying to figure out how to use this tail of his. “I can only assume that it was you who changed me into a merman. Thank you.”

“I’m only doing this because Patton told me you wanted to help so badly,” Triton responded in a low voice. “He said you loved my son.”

“I do, I – your son? – I mean… I do. And I care about Roman so much, I would feel horrible knowing what would happen to him. Especially if I could have stopped it. Or, tried to, at least.”

“Very well,” the sea-king nodded. “I trust you. Do not betray my trust.”

“I won’t,” Virgil promised. He sort of got the hang of this whole being-a-merman thing, though the merman next to him – Patton, he learned – kept supporting him, to make sure he didn’t somehow die. “But we should maybe hurry. I think I might have a plan, but to be sure, I do have to know more about who we’re dealing with and what is or isn’t allowed.”

 

Deceit dragged Roman all the way back to his cave, into a small room in the back, hardly visible from the much larger room. The prince struggled as he saw the chains on the back wall, but Deceit was way too strong for him, and he quickly bound the young sea-prince with the chains. Roman silently trashed around, trying futilely to free himself. This couldn’t be the end. It couldn’t end like this, he wouldn’t let it.

“Make yourself at home dear,” Deceit said, still using Roman’s voice. He grinned at the prince, his yellow eye glowing dangerously. “You’re going to be here for a while.”

Roman shook his head, his protests becoming more frantic for a moment, but his energy had soon run out, and he gave up. The chains were the one thing that kept him up. He refused to end up like… like this, but he didn’t know what else to do.

All of this had been his own fault, he knew that. He had been foolish and blind, but there had to be a way to undo this, right? But he couldn’t speak. He couldn’t bargain. He could barely even move. He had really messed this up, hadn’t he?

For a while, he remained there in silence, as Deceit went back to the main room, messing with a few of the bottles and jars in his cabinet. Every once in a while, he would shoot Roman a taunting smirk, enjoying the royal’s situation.

But then, Roman heard a sound that made his heart jump, yet confused him. He clearly heard Virgil’s voice, but… Virgil couldn’t be down here, could he?

 

“Alright, where is Roman?” Virgil asked as soon as he saw the sea-witch. Patton had guided him to the entrance of the cave, and was now probably watching the scene from above, making sure to intervene if he thought it was necessary. Deceit looked so much more intimidating than Virgil had prepared for and he had to take a moment to gather up some courage, but the thought of Roman was more than enough to encourage him.

“Ah, if it isn’t everyone’s favourite prince,” Deceit smirked, unimpressed by Virgil’s appearance. “Love the tail, Princey. Is it new?”

“I asked you a question,” Virgil demanded, trying not to get distracted by the witch’s slick words or yellow, glowing eye. “Where is he?”

“Why, do you plan on rescuing him? Good luck.” Deceit’s long tail swished dangerously, circling around Virgil in a threatening manner. It was never far away, always ready to grab him if he made a wrong move.

“I… I want to make a deal,” the human prince responded, his eyes flicking to Deceit’s long, black tail. He didn’t trust this at all. Most of his attention was focussed on staying afloat, though. Patton had given him a few tips and he got used to swimming like this, but it was still uneasy and anything but natural.

“A deal?” Deceit huffed as he looked at the man with an amused grin. His tail came up to stroke Virgil’s cheek, eventually going down to his shoulder and arm. It stopped short of Virgil’s wrist, preparing to take a hold of his wrist if the man dared to back out. “I am listening.”

“I will take his place,” Virgil announced, forcing himself to look up into Deceit’s eyes. “You set him free. I come here.”

“Interesting,” Deceit mused as he lightly wrapped his tail around Virgil’s waist. It wasn’t tight enough to constrict the prince, but just enough to keep him in place as the witch drew a little closer to him, smirking. “I must hand it to you, Princey, you’ve got some gall coming in here. I like that.”

“So, is it a yes?”

The sea-witch hesitated for a moment, before nodding. “It’s a yes.” He conjured up a scroll of paper and a pen, which he then handed to Virgil. “Sign this.”

The human prince looked at the scroll, recognizing a few of the foreign letters as the letters Roman had written down a few days ago. He couldn’t read any of it, which bothered him. It was clear that it was a contract, but he didn’t know what it said. He could be agreeing to anything.

“I’m waiting,” Deceit taunted in a sing-song voice.

“Right,” Virgil sighed. He lifted his hand and signed his name at the bottom of the page.

“Perfect,” the sea-witch grinned, making the pen and scroll disappear. “Now, follow me please, Princey.”

Virgil didn’t really have much of a choice, with Deceit’s tail still wrapped around him – tighter than before, the prince noticed. So, he followed the witch to the smaller room at the back of the cave. His heart skipped a beat when he saw Roman, chained up. He still wore the red dress, the skirt flowing around him. Its colour was nearly identical to the colour of his tail. When he saw the prince enter, Roman’s eyes widened and for a moment, he smiled. But his smile faltered as soon as he saw Deceit’s smirk. His mind made a connection and he quickly shook his head, refusing to leave.

“Sorry, little prince, you’ve been replaced,” Deceit smiled as he waved a hand. The chains released Roman and Deceit pushed him aside, to chain up Virgil in his place. The human prince was at peace with this, didn’t struggle or protest.

“It’s fine, Ro,” he said softly to the merman, who tried his best to get closer to the human, despite Deceit’s tail holding him back. “Trust me.”

Deceit pushed Roman out of the room, not even allowing the two to say any parting words, and soon, Virgil was alone. He nervously swished his tail and bit the inside of his cheek. Now he just had to wait. If only this would work. At least he knew Roman would be safe. Even if the plan failed, Roman would be safe. And that was all that mattered.

 

When Deceit pushed him out of the room, Roman tried time and time again to get back. He couldn’t leave Virgil there. It had been _his_ mistake, he had made the deal in the first place, not Virgil. He shouldn’t be here in the first place.

Eventually, Deceit got sick of the sea-prince’s attempts, and his tail curled around Roman’s. He pulled the prince a little closer to him.

“If you think that you can get him out of there, you can keep on dreaming, little one,” he growled. “However, I might consider locking you both in there if you keep this up.”

Roman froze at those words. He would give anything to take Virgil’s place again, but being locked up _with_ him… sure, he would be with Virgil again, but he couldn’t leave the human prince there. He had a kingdom to rule in the future, people who counted on him. And besides, none of this was his fault! He didn’t deserve to be chained to that wall. There had to be a way to get him out of there, but Roman could not do that if he was locked in there.

“Deceit,” called a deep voice from above the two of them. Deceit grinned as he looked up, just in time to see Triton descending. “Let him go.”

“Ah, _King Triton_ ,” the sea-witch greeted with a mocking bow to the monarch. “It is an _honour_. Have you come to retrieve your little one? Well, you can have him, if you want. I have something better in his stead.”

He pushed the voiceless merman towards his father, his tail finally releasing the other from his hold – although it lingered for just a second. Triton protectively wrapped one arm around Roman, but he made no intention to leave.

“What, aren’t you done yet?” the witch huffed, looking at the king with a smirk. His yellow eye lit up dangerously. “You’ve got what you came for, don’t you?” He looked at Roman, who looked up at his father with wide eyes. Suddenly, something clicked. “ _Oh_ , you want the human?” The king’s tense silence immediately answered Deceit’s question and the witch laughed. “My god, who are you and what have you done with Triton?”

“Can we make a deal?” Triton asked, avoiding the sea-witch’s comment.

“You know what?” Deceit mused. He put a few fingers to his chin, pretending to think “I think we can. And I’ll be generous. Your trident for the human. I won’t even lock you in there! How does that sound?” Triton hesitated. “Well? What’s more valuable to you? Your power, or the happiness of your son?”

Roman grabbed his father’s hand, shaking his head. He knew that if he would give Deceit the trident, he would be able to undo everything Triton had done with his magic – including giving Virgil his tail. And not just that; he would also be able to exploit this power without being afraid of anyone countering it. No one else was powerful enough to counter the sea-king’s magic. Deceit would be able to do whatever he wanted.

Triton sighed and looked down at his son.

“You’ve got yourself a deal.”

Roman’s eyes widened as Deceit smirked. He reached out a hand, waiting to receive the king’s trident. As Triton swam closer to the sea-witch, Roman still tried to stop him. He would _not_ let this happen!

Deceit had meanwhile summoned another scroll and a pen, waiting for the sea-king to sign his own name. But, before this happened, Triton halted in front of Deceit. He pointed his trident at the witch and, before anyone realised what was going on, stunned the other with the magic of his trident. The force of the magic was strong enough to push Deceit back, into the wall on the other side of the cave. Without another word, Triton sent out another blast of magic, this one knocking out the sea-witch. For good.

“I should have done that long ago,” Triton muttered to himself as he destroyed the contract. Roman smiled and grabbed the jar containing his voice, while Triton left to free Virgil. He vaguely heard two voices talking in the other room, but he didn’t hear what they were talking about it. Meanwhile, he took the lid off the jar that contained his voice. The vague fog in the jar quickly dissipated, and not much later, Roman felt a warm sensation in his throat. He carefully touched it. Obviously, he didn’t feel a difference, but…

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw Virgil quickly swimming up to him. He felt the prince’s arms around him and let out a soft giggle as the two of them twirled around. Wait- he _giggled_. That was a sound. His voice was back!

“I love you, Virgil,” he whispered softly. The human prince pulled away from the hug, looking at Roman with wide eyes, though a wide smile spread on his face.

“You talked,” he stated happily.

“I did,” Roman grinned, taking Virgil’s hands in his own. The man was still trying to get the hang of this way of swimming, and the merman found that this looked incredibly adorable.

“I love you too, Ro,” Virgil said, smiling at the other. “Is it okay if I kissed you?”

“I have been waiting for you to do that for three days,” Roman chuckled.

Virgil laughed, and leaned in closer. He couldn’t believe this was happening. None of this felt real. Merfolk, witches, spells, Roman. It felt all fake, yet somehow… it was real. And Virgil wouldn’t have it any other way.

Carefully, as if he was afraid to break Roman, Virgil pressed a kiss to the merman’s lips. He released Roman’s hands and cupped his cheeks in the process. When he pulled away, he leaned his forehead against Roman’s.

“I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” Roman responded. “And thank you. For everything. And for… saving me.”

“Hey, it’s nothing,” Virgil said. “Anyone would’ve done it.”

“But still,” the merman murmured. “It means a lot to me.”

Virgil smiled and kissed Roman’s nose. He couldn’t believe he was here. Underwater, as a merman, with the guy who he loved more than anything. The prince glanced back at Triton, who seemed to be discussing something with Patton and the other merman who had helped them – Logan, Virgil learned. He didn’t even notice the two had come in.

“Wait,” Roman gasped as he realised something, “now that you’re here, I _have_ to show you something.” He grabbed Virgil’s wrist. “Father, I’m going to show Virgil something! We’ll be back soon!”

“Roman?”

“Yes, father?” the sea-prince asked, stopping dead in his tracks.

“Come to the palace when you’re done. Both of you.”

“Of course, father,” Roman nodded. When it was clear that his father didn’t want to say anything else, he swam up, pulling a confused Virgil along with him.

“Where are we going?” Virgil asked as he tried to at least kind of keep up with Roman’s high speed.

“You’ll see,” the sea-prince responded with a mischievous grin.

They spoke no more as they swam. Roman’s dress got caught on some rocks or ruin of old structures a few times but other than that, their trip was mostly uneventful.     

Roman led the man to the cave where he stored all the human stuff he had found underwater. Carefully, the two of them entered the cave.

“Tada,” Roman called as he twirled around in the middle of his cave. “What do you think?”

Virgil looked around in awe, studying every object he could see. There were no words to describe the beauty of all these things that he had collected.

“Ro, did you… is this yours?”

“Every single thing,” the merman nodded with a proud grin. “I’ve found everything in this cave and I… stored them here.”

“Ro, this is incredible,” Virgil muttered, studying a few small statues.

“I’m so glad you like it,” Roman gushed. “I come here so often, just… thinking about what it would be like on the surface, and… think.”

“It’s amazing,” the prince said as he picked up a small music box, decorated with red and gold paint that had faded away long ago. “We used to have something like this when I was younger,” he remembered with a smile. “But then I outgrew it, according to my parents. I lost it.”

“What does it do?”

Virgil explained the purpose of the small object and Roman listened intently, looking at the prince with a smile as he took in all the information.

For a while they sat there, Roman telling his story behind some of the items he had collected, and Virgil explaining how it was used. But after a while, Roman shot up with a gasp.

“We need to get you back to the land,” he realised with a shocked expression. “Your people will be worried sick!”

For a moment, Virgil wanted to protest. Fuck going back to land, he wanted to say. He wanted to stay here, with the love of his life. He didn’t even want to go back to the land if he would have to live without Roman. But he couldn’t. His people needed him.

“You’re right,” he said with a small nod.

“Let’s go to the palace.” Roman grabbed Virgil’s hand and led him out of the cave, going to the palace to find his father.

It was a short journey, but Virgil was incredibly fascinated by literally everything he saw. All the fish swimming around, the little houses and caves people lived in, all the other merfolk. It was astounding and he never wanted this experience to end.

But then they stopped in front of the palace. When he saw it, Virgil stopped for a moment, to take in the complete beauty. It was so much bigger and more imposing than anything he had ever seen before. Bright, white, gorgeous, large.

“Come on,” Roman said with a soft giggle as he saw Virgil’s reaction. “Let’s go.”

Virgil nodded and followed the merman into the palace, all the way to the throne room, where Triton was already waiting for them, Patton and Logan by his sides.

“There you are,” the sea-king said as he saw the two arriving. “Virgil, I need to thank you for helping us.”

“Guess you misjudged humans after all, right, father?” Roman teased with a careful smile.

“I will make no judgement of that,” Triton responded. Virgil smiled, looking at the merman next to him, before turning to the king before him.

“Thank you for allowing me to help,” he said. “And… well… this,” he finished with a gesture to his tail.

“I think it is time for you for you to go back,” the sea-king said. “Before anyone on the surface gets worried.”

“You’re probably right,” Virgil nodded reluctantly. He didn’t want to leave Roman, but… Triton was right. He had a job to do on the surface. His people were counting on him. “Thank you.”

“I’ll swim with you to the surface,” Roman offered.

“Actually,” Triton interrupted. “I want to talk to you. Logan and Patton can accompany him to the surface.”

“Right,” the sea-prince nodded, looking down at his tail. This could not be good, he told himself. He had really messed up, hadn’t he?

“Are you ready?” Triton asked, looking at Virgil. The human prince nodded and Logan and Patton swam closer to help him up as soon as he turned back. Triton nodded before pointing his trident at the man.

Immediately, Virgil felt the change. A strangle tingle in his tail as it was split into two legs, the sensation of the salt water burning in his eyes, the feeling of suffocating. Two pairs of hands grabbed his arms and helped him up as he kicked his feet in the water, trying to help the others by not hanging in their arms like some ragdoll.

It seemed like age before they reached the surface again, even though it was only a few seconds. Virgil took in a deep breath of oxygen as soon as he could breathe, and he noticed they were still quite far away from the shore. Luckily, the two mermen silently helped him closer to the beach. This was a relief, as he wouldn’t have been able to do it on his own. Not this quickly, at least. As soon as they were close enough so Virgil could stand, the duo let go of his arms.

“Thank you,” the prince said, nodding at the two.

“Thank _you_ for saving Roman,” Patton responded.

“It’s nothing,” Virgil shrugged, “anyone would have done it. I just… couldn’t do nothing. I had to try to help.”

“It was very courageous, Virgil,” Logan spoke. “You don’t have to dismiss it. It was brave.”

“Oh, well…” When he couldn’t think of a good response, Virgil just shrugged and looked back at the beach. “I think I… have to go back home. They probably think I’m dead already.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right, kiddo,” Patton nodded. “Hopefully, we’ll see you around?”

“Maybe,” the human prince agreed as he started to make his way back. “Who knows? Oh, please tell Roman I love him?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you,” Virgil smiled. “And I… take care of yourselves.”

“You too, Virgil.”

With a final wave, he turned around and made his way back to the beach, leaving the mermen – and the one he loved – behind.

 

Everyone who had been at the beach when Virgil went below the surface, had left. They had probably given up hope and went back to the castle. Luckily, he had gotten his pants back with his transformation – that prevented a lot of awkwardness.

It didn’t take Virgil very long to go back to the castle, but when he did… well, there was some commotion.

Valerie was the first to spot him.

“Virgil?” she called as soon as she saw her brother. “Virge, is that you?”

“It sure is,” the prince responded with a smile.

“Oh my god, you’re alive!” the princess exclaimed as she ran to her brother, wrapping her arms around him. “I thought you had died, what happened? Where is Roman? And the prince? You’re soaking wet! What happened?”

“It’s a long story,” Virgil scoffed. “I… I don’t even know if I believe it myself. And I don’t know if I can tell either. It’s… complicated.”

“Hm,” Valerie hummed. It was clear that she knew her brother was hiding something. Something _big_. But she realised he didn’t want to tell, and she didn’t pry. “I’m just glad you’re alive and well. Thomas will be glad to see you’re alive. We were so worried!”

“I can imagine that,” the prince smiled as he let his sister guide him to the ball room, to see everyone who thought he had died.

There were a lot of surprised voices and expression, people asking him where he went, what happened, questions about Roman and Deceit, and even more. But Virgil’s mind kept wandering. He worried about Roman, and wondered if he would ever see the merman again. He wanted to, he _really_ wanted to. But would he be able to? Would he even be allowed to?

“Someone else is approaching,” a voice called and Virgil looked up. Who would be approaching the castle at this time of day? Who would be approaching the castle anyways? Curious, the prince walked to the window, and in the darkness, he saw a shade of red, mixed with hints of gold. It looked like Roman’s dress, but… why was he here? And how? Was it even him?

Without a word, Virgil sprinted out of the hall, out of the castle. He didn’t listen to the voices that called to him, he didn’t listen to the voice telling him that he had no idea if it really _was_ Roman. He didn’t care. If this really was Roman, he wanted to be with him.

When the prince got outside, he quickly saw the silhouette of the figure in red. And immediately, he knew. He knew it was Roman. With a grin, he approached the other.

“How did you…” he stammered as he wrapped his arms around Roman.

“Father gave me legs,” Roman explained blissfully. “For real. For good.”

“So you’re saying-“

“I can stay with you!”

“Oh my goodness,” Virgil murmured as he nuzzled closer to Roman. He smelled like the ocean. Fresh, comforting. His dress was still soaking wet and his skin was slightly wet too, but Virgil found that it was strangely consoling and familiar. “I can’t believe it.”

“Neither can I.” Roman’s voice was soft and insecure, but it was cute.

“Shall we go back to the palace?” Virgil asked, pulling back so he could look at Roman. His hands rested on the other’s shoulder and Roman looked at one of the hands, mesmerized. “I can introduce you properly this time. And I imagine you’re freezing.”

“Kind of.” The former merman was snapped back into reality with the voice of his crush and he nodded carefully.

“Thought as much,” the prince said, dropping his hands. “Let’s go.”

He looked at Roman expectantly, and the latter hesitated for a few moments. Then, he took Virgil’s hand in his and shyly smiled up at him, before they made their way back to the palace. Roman leaned into Virgil a bit as they walked, and the human prince noticed he was cold to the touch. He didn’t have a jacket on him, but if he would, he surely would have given it to the other. Luckily, the trip back to the palace was short, and soon enough, they were enveloped by the warmth of the palace.

Immediately, Valerie ambushed the two, a worried look on her face.

“Virge, what were yo- Roman? There you are! We were worried, what happened?” She looked at Virgil, expecting him to respond, as she wasn’t yet aware of Roman’s voice having returned to the man.

“Do you want to tell her?” Virgil asked, looking at Roman as he wrapped his arm around his waist.

“Later, I think,” Roman responded softly.

“Of course.” The prince nodded, looking back at his sister, who returned the look in astonishment, eyes wide in shock.

“You found your voice, Ro?” she questioned.

“Apparently I did.”

“And, to make things even better, turns out he was the one who saved me,” Virgil grinned, pressing a kiss to Roman’s cheek.

“He was your Angel?”

“It was him all along.”

 


	6. Epilogue

It didn’t take Roman long to get adjusted to human life. He still missed the sea at times, but he felt much more in place here, on the surface world. He was happier here, with the man he loved more than life itself. They were meant for each other, both of them just _knew_. They knew that they wanted to spend their lives together. Virgil was ecstatic to be with the love of his life, his Angel.

Roman still saw his friends, his family, but it was never for long. After all, he couldn’t stay under water for long and it was risky for them to travel to the surface. But they were careful enough, and nothing happened. They made sure of that.

It wasn’t long before Virgil proposed to Roman. During one of their dates – a picnic on a remote part of the beach, where they could meet up with merfolk in peace – he got on one knee. He was never good with words, but damn, he gave the best and sappiest speech of his entire live, and Roman was just able to stammer that yes, of course he wanted to marry him. It might have been quick, but neither of them minded. They were so in love, so happy with each other. Marrying seemed to be the one sensible thing they could do. Even if Thomas and Valerie had their concerns, the two men didn’t seem to be so worried about it. from the first moment they, they knew they were destined to be together. They were soulmates.

So, in their relationship, the ocean and land finally united in an unspoken peace. Not much changed; merfolk still kept away from most human beings, and only a few humans knew about the existence of the world below the sea, but for this couple, so much had changed. Things had changed in ways that they never thought were possible. And they couldn’t have been happier about it. This was how it was meant to be. This was their fate.


End file.
